Hot topics in Central Ohio remain jobs and cutting government spending and red tape, U.S. House Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus) learned when he and the Hilliard Chamber of Commerce hosted a business roundtable last week.
BY KATHLEEN L. RADCLIFF
Hot topics in Central Ohio remain jobs and cutting government spending and red tape, U.S. House Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus) learned when he and the Hilliard Chamber of Commerce hosted a business roundtable last week.
The March 22 event brought more than a dozen business leaders to Heritage Golf Club, 3525 Heritage Club Drive.
"I'd love to hear from you guys what some of the issues are," Stivers told them.
John Kelley, owner of Two Men and a Truck Columbus, located in the Northland area, said he was concerned about the use of tax abatements by municipalities.
While Kelley's business is located at 5083 Westerville Road in Columbus, the city of Westerville is not far away.
"As a businessman, I would be remiss if I didn't take advantage of that," Kelley said, "but as a citizen, I feel guilty."
Stivers cited the recent example of Columbus-based Bob Evans' decision to move its South Side headquarters to New Albany, along with 360 jobs and an estimated 150 additional new jobs expected to be added in the next five years.
"I would be interested in seeing if something can be done at the state level," Stivers said. One idea he floated was forcing a company that leaves one municipality for another because of a tax abatement to share revenue for five years.
"If you knew you would have to share revenue, you wouldn't steal jobs located 25 miles away," he said. "Something we should be striving for is new jobs, versus moving jobs."
"We should encourage people to put roots down and stay," Stivers said, as Joe Mrochek of Hilliard's S & G Manufacturing said he's noticed companies are tending to lease buildings as opposed to owning them.
Uncertainty at the federal level has its effect locally, one businessman said.
"We had planned to hire one more person, but had to cut back," said Bob James, vice president of business development for Grandview Heights-based Advanced Reading Concepts.
"We do business nationwide, and with all of the uncertainty Congress has created, corporations are pulling back on their budgets for training.
"We need some certainty as to what the plans are."
Stivers said certainty comes from getting people jobs.
"The best thing to do is to get people back to work," Stivers said.
"By getting people employed, this gives you more certainty," he said, as well as increased revenue
In addition, Stivers said he is in support of giving the president a line-item veto and moving to a two-year budget at the federal level.
"He will line-item-veto items I don't like, but it is about the process," he said. "I am excited to start to transform some of these processes."
Kelley said the rising prices in fuel are taking dollars out of the whole economy.
"That goes back to our uncertainty," Stivers said, regarding the lack of an energy policy, leading toward energy independence.
"I think we're getting a lot closer, because people are recognizing we've got to do something, with the rise in gasoline prices.
"Energy is not a partisan issue -- it is an American issue," he said.
