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Written by Sarah Lee
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Editor’s Note: This column article was based on Arnold Mikon’s speech where he addressed his plans as Chamber board chair for 2010-2011 year during the recent Annual Meeting in April at the Radisson Plaza Hotel.
Re-Prioritizing To Move Our Community Forward
Today as a region and a state, we need to maximize our resources and operate as leanly as possible to meet the economic challenges that are upon us. As business owners and leaders, we are expected by our customers, shareholders, employees and the municipalities we are located in to operate our companies in an ethical and fiscally responsible way.
When we operate in such a fashion it enriches the economic climate of our region and our state by creating and sustaining jobs as well as opportunities for growth and prosperity. As such we should expect no less from the governmental entities that serve us at the local, state and federal level.
An integral part of the Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce’s strategic vision for the coming year, focuses on the Chamber cementing its role as the voice of business in the region. What we have heard from the business community is we all must live within our means.
Our local municipalities have been working diligently to do just that. In the face of significant cuts in revenue sharing from the state, the cities of Portage and Kalamazoo, and the County have made significant adjustments to their operations to meet the daunting challenge of dwindling state support and decreasing property tax revenue. A few examples of how they have responded include offering early retirements, staff reductions, privatizing of some services, implementing wellness programs and providing alternative health plans. However, we have not see that same level of commitment at the state level.
We have seen one of the first responses to diminishing revenues to be a push by state officials to generate “revenue enhancements” – a slippery phrase that means tax or fee increases to our citizens and businesses. As business people we understand that when our customer base begins to shrink our first response should not be to raise prices. Instead we focus more tightly on better defining out value proposition, meeting the key needs of our customers and operating as leanly and efficiently possible.
Looking down the barrel of a $2.2 billion state budget deficit, we expect our elected leaders to set aside partisan in-fighting and to address this challenge head on in a focused manner.
First we need to get back to identifying what the core functions of government should be:
- Building a positive environment for job growth - A key in being a fair and stable tax structure
- Providing a supportive environment for education and training - To help us secure the workforce of the future
- Public safety – To keep our citizens and communities safe and secure
- Maintaining and improving infrastructure – To help attract investment and future growth.
Once the core functions of state government have been identified, the next step is to prioritize them and fund them based on what we can afford. From there, those cost centers and state expenditures that are not central to achieving these core functions should be eliminated.
At that point the discussion can center on how much we can afford and how we should allocate revenue to meet these needs. In essence we need to bring rhyme and reason back to Lansing.
As a business community and a region, it is our job to hold the legislature accountable to these principles. That means not only current legislators but also those we will elect in the fall. It is important that we support those legislators that have the political will to meet these challenges. This will be particularly important with the majority of the legislature rotating out this year due to term limits.
One of the key strategic focus for the Chamber this coming year is to continue to serve as a convener on important community issues. We will be dedicated to connecting our members and the broader business community to discussions with other key constituencies to position this region for future success. Important issues such as leveraging economic development assets and strategies, local millages and other taxes, infrastructure development, and community branding, are a sample of the type of issues we will continue to engage in. Some recent examples include: The Arcadia Commons West development; implementing a fairer business tax structure; and building of the new local airport terminal.
We are committed to operating this organization in a fiscally responsible and sustainable way. As an association, we have faced the same challenges as many of our members. In order to meet these challenges we have gone through rigorous adjustments to our program and staff structure. We have rededicated ourselves to simplifying our investment schedule and focused on explaining to our members how they can optimize the value they can obtain from a Chamber membership.
As the Board Chair for 2010-2011, I look forward to the opportunity to partner with you as a fellow business and community leader to help this region and your business to grown and prosper.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 21 July 2010 )
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