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Amarillo’s effort puts it in business-An ambitious pursuit of economic growth seems to be working

Houston, Dallas and the Silicon Hills of Austin require scant introduction to America’s corporate decision-makers. Amarillo, on the other hand, must try harder to be noticed.

By:
Angela Shah
Dallas Morning News

"When people think of Texas, they don’t automatically think of Amarillo," said Michael Bourne, president of the Amarillo Economic Development Corp. "So if people are going to think about us, we’re going to have to stay in front of them."

For Amarillo, that means promoting itself alongside financial services, executive jets and expensive whiskeys – with $20,000-plus advertisements in The Wall Street Journal talking up the Panhandle city as a great corporate home.

A recent ad featured Bill Brewer of the Amarillo-based American Quarter Horse Association: "Even with affiliates across the globe, we’re able to be anywhere within a day at a reasonable price."

Amarillo, population 175,180, a nexus for global business?

Yes, said John Connell, chief financial officer of Arden Cos. of Southfield, Mich. The manufacturer of patio cushions and umbrellas knows full well the power of an aggressive publicity campaign.

In 1994, Mr. Connell was among 1,300 top executives who received fake $8 million checks.

Mr. Bourne and his staff came up with the gimmick to get companies such as Apple Computer and Johnson & Johnson to consider Amarillo.

City fathers shamelessly waved promises of low-cost loans and tax incentives – as long as the companies produced jobs in their city.

The campaign raised a few eyebrows and prompted a few news articles that poked a little fun at Amarillo’s ambitions. But it worked.

"We got a check in the mail. … Obviously that attracted us to them," Mr. Connell said.

"We were 300 to 400 miles from the outer boundary of the circle in which they were looking," Mr. Bourne said.

"But it caused them to pick up the phone to say: ‘What’s this all about?’ "

In 1995, Arden opened a plant in Amarillo.

Mr. Connell said Arden couldn’t be more pleased.

The company has five other facilities around the nation but hasn’t found a better economic- development program than Amarillo’s.

"It’s more than just good salesmanship," he said.

Money talks

Economic development experts say the city backs up its marketing with serious cash.

In 1998, Amarillo got Bell Helicopter to put its new tilt- rotor aircraft assembly facility there in exchange for an economic incentives package that included millions in taxpayer-funded bonds and the chance to own the facility outright in 20 years.

"More than anyone else in the state of Texas, they have figured out how to use this half-cent sales tax" for economic development, said Andrew Levine, president of economic development consultancy Development Counselors International in New York.

Mr. Levine’s firm was hired last month to help spearhead additional marketing for the city.

He said Amarillo’s assertive approach is unique among its peers.

"I have worked with over 300 economic development groups and have not seen anyone else do this," he said.

"A community like that without their economic development program probably would have shrunk and gotten smaller – not bigger."

Amarillo generates about $10 million annually through a half-cent sales tax dedicated to economic development.

Financial assistance from the economic development corporation is determined by a formula based on the number of new jobs a company will create, the average wage rate and the company’s total capital investment.

107 projects

The development group says it has approved 107 projects assisting 78 companies in locating to or expanding in Amarillo since 1990.

"They’ve increased jobs in the area by 5,000 jobs in the last 10 years," said Carlton Schwab, chief executive officer of the Texas Economic Development Council in Austin.

As Mr. Levine suggested, Amarillo’s initiative was born of necessity.

"Our community is very pro-business," said Mr. Bourne, the development chief. "We have to spend more to be noticed."

Economic development in larger cities means "answering the phone," he said.

"If we relied on that, I’m not sure we’d get to answer the phone very much."

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