Greetings and Good Evening

Martinsville / Henry County Taxpayers !

We are the Taxpayer Association of Martinsville and Henry County

Our Mission: As a nonprofit, the Taxpayer Association of Martinsville and Henry County shall provide oversight of local / state government as it relates to our quality of life .

TaxpayerMHC@aol.com

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Presenters:

• Rick Horton is an Iriswood resident, former educator and self employed businessman having moved here 20 years ago to join Tultex.

• Randy Scott is a former Alleghany high school principal, current real estate broker and primary care giver for his 93 year old Collinsville mother

A Pathway Back to Prosperity

Strategic Blueprint:

the Past

Martinsville – Henry County

Economic Development Corporation

Budget - Economic Development Corporation

Harvest Foundation 1,000,000

Martinsville City 339,500

Henry County 460,500

annual operating $ 1,800,000

Martinsville – Henry County 1995 - 2011 Report Card on Economic Development in MHC

Job Announcements LostYear

1995 200 01996 620 534 1997 449 01998 440 10401999 2004 22402000 2195 1050 2001 70 29942002 795 02003 549 11582004 1500 2942005 540 02006 357 1212007 186 8222008 393 5082009 219 5992010 559 9082011 701 7412012

total 11777 13009

deficit 1232source: http://www.virginiascan.yesvirginia.org/ResourceCenter/ ( select Martinsville MSA )

Comparison of Neighbor ( MSA )1995 - 2011

job announcements lost gain / loss

MSA

Bristol 6911 3648 3263Danville 9373 8282 1091Lynchburg 12508 9119 3389Roanoke 14511 12366 2145Martinsville 11777 13009 ( 1232 )

source: http://www.virginiascan.yesvirginia.org/ResourceCenter/

Comparison by Neighbor ( County / City )1995 - 2011

job announcements lost gain / loss ( population )

Pittsylvania 61,501 2478 2127 351Franklin 50,784 2461 1761 700Henry 56,208 8326 8774 ( 448 )Patrick 19,212 1748 1324 424Bedford 66,507 1536 258 1278

Danville 45,586 6895 6155 740Martinsville 14,945 3451 4235 ( 784 )Bristol 17,496 2593 1703 890

Martinsville – Henry County EDC

Mark Heath, President $ 176,140

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How is a salary of $ 176,140 justified

when we are at a deficit of 1232 jobs after

17 years ?

Critical Question ?

Are we better off ……than we were 17 years ago ?

Average…..is not good enough in the 21st Century !

Harvest Foundation

HistoryHarvest Foundation

• Martinsville Hospital built with donations from employees of local companies like Dupont, Fieldcrest, Pannill, Sale, American, Bassett, Stanley, Hooker, etc

• Approximately 3 of the 11 million cost to build the hospital came from individuals and other organizations

• Many retirees ( founding stockholders, if you will ) can still remember the good faith, arm-twisting by their bosses to donate a day’s or week’s pay towards construction

• Hospital opened in 1970 and sold in 2002. • $ 150 million proceeds from the sale created the Harvest

Foundation• Approximately $ 9,000,000 from earnings is available to spend in

the community each year

Source: www.martinsvillebulletin.com

In other words…..

Everyone in the area is vested in the

Harvest Foundation if they:

• Donated funds to build the hospital

• As a patient, you and your insurance company paid your bill and contributed to the profitability of the hospital

Some Recipients ( thousands )

Activate MHC 1.600 Phoenix Corp .250

Adult DayCare MHC .250 Piedmont Access to Health .079Bassett Public Library .205 Piedmont Arts

Association .504Bassett Community Center .135 Piedmont Community Services 1.439Blue Ridge Regional Library .095 Piedmont Governors School .030Boys / Girls Club of Blue Ridge .069 Piedmont Dental Health .450Citizens Against Family Violence .145 Rural Health .035Martinsville City Police .034 Project Assess of Danville .018Dan River Basin Association 1.445 SafetyNet .420Focus on Youth .145 Smart Beginnings .713For the Children Partners in Prevention .030 Southern Environmental Law .112Foundation for Rehab Equip .158 Southern Va Recreational Facilities 22.000Gateway Streetscape .300 SW Va Second Harvest Food Bank .025Grace Network .031 Spencer Penn Preservation .282Henry County Schools 4.890 Stepping Stones .007MHC Health Dept .071 Eastern Drug Rehabilitation .010MARC .382

TheatreWorks .232Martinsville Area Community Foundation .080 Triple C Dude Ranch .377Martinsville City Schools 1.585 United Way 1.650MHC Coalition for Health & Wellness 9.695 Virginia Legal Aid Society .015MHC Historical Society .135 Virginia Musuem of Natural History 1.342NCI 8.742 YMCA .385Partners for Livable Communities .035 PHCC Education Foundation 1.987

Harvest Investments2003 - 2011

Nonprofits ( health, education, community vitality ) 55,000,000

Economic development ( community vitality ) 19,000,000

total $ 74,000,000

Harvest Investments2003 - 2011

Source: http://www.theharvestfoundation.org

Are we better off ……than we were 9 years ago ?

the Future

Average … doesn’t cut it in the 21st Century

We have….

• Water and sewer infrastructure

• Natural water sources

• Patriot Centre and Commonwealth Crossing

• Unemployed / idled labor force

• Patrick Henry CC and New College Institute

• Pent-up energy

• Recreational and social venues

and we have

• Harvest Foundation 150,000,000

Values

• develop self worth

• encourage self responsibility and a sense of responsibility for others

• foster competition

The Premise: Jobs

An employed citizen will be a productive and

responsible one who will be a contributing member of the

community.

An employed citizen:

• controls her own destiny and maintains his own self worth

• gains access to health / dental insurance• brings stability to the family and empowers the individual

• gives back to his community

• is not dependent upon government or society

Job Recruitment - Strategy

• Job recruiters should aggressively target and incentivize the prospect of an existing company to come to MHC

• 1 % monthly job opportunity fee for two ( 2 ) years by each employee in a new job created by Harvest

deducted from paycheck and returned to Harvest as a Return on Investment (ROI ). Not intended to make Harvest whole but payback a portion

• Provide incentives to any local company to hire a native who earns a college degree anywhere…..new employee pays an opportunity fee of 2 % monthly for three ( 3 ) years to the company

Salary 2,000 / mo 3,000 4,000

1 % $ 20 30 40

3 % 60 90 120

5 % 100 150 200

Sample : Opportunity Fees

Use of Opportunity Fees

• Nonprofits

• Cost of drug screenings

• Job training

The War Stories

• Green Mountain Coffee ( 330,000 sf, 800 jobs/5yr,180m / 4m GOF )

• Amazon ( 1350 jobs / 5 yr, 135 m / 3.5m GOF, 850k Tobacco )

• Albany Industries ( 335 uphols jobs , 300k GOF, no Tobacco )

• Jammin.com ( from Tustin, California to Rocky Mount, Va )

• Vaughan Bassett ( 115 jobs, 8 m / 331k )

In reacting to the decision by John D. Bassett, III of Vaughan Bassett Furniture to compete with the Chinese,

Rob Spilman, CEO of Bassett Furniture and chairman of NCI, said….

“We’ve ( Bassett Furniture ) been a public company since 1930 with shareholders that have to get profits…..At the end of the day, we are not a social experiment”

“He’s ( J. D. Bassett ) managed to keep more of his production than most anybody else…which took a lot of tenacity and guts….

“But that’s what you’re going to do if you have your employees and much of your family wealth tied up in the business. “

• Education is the engine of economic and social mobility

• Jobs are the fuel• An engine without fuel goes nowhere

The Premise: Education

1. Improving our schools and increasing the graduation rate are worthy goals.

2. ~The World Economic Forum ranks the U.S. educational system 26th in the world.

3. Increasing competition by opening a charter school, not increased spending on the status quo, is the pathway to regaining our educational advantage. The American Dream is about competition, not maintaining a public monopoly.

4. If graduates cannot find a job, the situation is comparable to losing a job. Not having a job is demoralizing but walking out of school with a degree and no prospect of a job is even worse.

5. * Continuing to produce college graduates with growing tuition debt knowing that there are no jobs for them is creating false hope. Sources: * “Education / Student Debt”, Time Magazine, October 31, 2011

~ ”Yes Wall Street Helps the Poor”, Newsweek Magazine, October 31, 2011

Tough

Love

• Each local school board adds a 160 hr. unpaid opportunity internship to all of its diploma offerings for graduation. High school student must satisfy this requirement during nonschool hours ( weekends, nights or summers ) during their junior and senior years. Internship is a pass / fail experience focused on customer service skills and molding self worth. Employer gets 160 hrs of free labor: local annual economic impact: 700 x 160 x $ 9 = $ 900,000 per graduating class

• Both school boards and governing bodies embrace a legislative proposal which requires a high school diploma as a prequalification to obtain a driver’s license

• Post the weight levels of each k-12 student on the report card twice a year

• Develop a charter school which is free of local and state regulations funded by Harvest

• Develop a technology school offering high tech and trade level programs funded by Harvest

• A merged city / county public school system

• Provide access to job search and educational enrichment through full time hours at existing public libraries. Open a northern and southern elementary school library on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Education - Strategy

Innovation

• Competition

• Innovation just does not happen in a laboratory….it happens on a factory floor…experimenting plus failure plus experimenting produces innovation

• Fab labs

• Steve Jobs

Summary of the Plan

• Provide an additional layer of incentives to recruit new industry funded by the Harvest Foundation. The three funding partners of the EDC will expect a more aggressive strategy and performance in job recruitment

• Opportunity fees paid back to Harvest by the employee in any job created by Harvest. Opportunity short term loans, not grants, to new / existing company funded by Harvest.

• Unpaid internships for high school seniors, as a diploma requirement, to mold work ethic and self worth

• Post student weight levels on report cards to alert parents of their responsibility for diet and exercise.

• Expect candidates for job training / placement services and safety net recipients to pass a drug screening

• Create a technical school to train skills needed by new industry and a charter school to provide competition with public schools both funded by Harvest

• Resume the study to determine why a joint city / county school system will not work.

• Add two new Board of Director positions to the Harvest Foundation to be filled by individuals who contributed a day’s or week’s pay to build the hospital

• City Council and Board of Supervisors will explain its economic development plan at the start of each year. Taxpayer Association and MHC Chamber of Commerce will convene a Jobs Forum twice a year to receive a detail accounting of the progress from our elected and appointed leaders

How Do We Harvest Those Values ?

• We need to invest in jobs.

• Gainfully employed citizens lift themselves and their fellow men up.

• Jobs will support the nonprofits.

• Our priority should be about getting people back to work

“I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving”

“To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must sail, and not drift nor lie at anchor “

Oliver Wendell Holmes

After 17 years of decline, are we

drifting or sailing ?

What Can You Do ?

• Lobby Harvest Foundation to turn the emphasis to economic development

• Send a message to your city councilperson or supervisor to expect a higher level of performance from the 1.8 million annual investment

• Send a message to your school board representative that we need to hold parents more accountable for the moral, physical and cognitive development of their child during the k-12 years