Survey says Gallatin Valley economy growing

Results for the first State of the Gallatin Valley Economy survey are in and, for the most part, the local economy looks healthy.

By KAYLEY MENDENHALL, Chronicle Staff Writer

Companies from 14 different industry sectors said that overall they plan to have a revenue increase in the coming year of 12.6 percent — a rate much higher than the national economic growth rate, said Rich Semenik, dean of the Montana State University College of Business.

But the results only apply to the 53 companies that completed the survey out of more than 450 companies invited to participate. The survey was sponsored by the Gallatin Development Corp., the Chronicle, MSU College of Business and North Star Consulting Group.

"We targeted 453 companies and 53 responded, and that to me is the single scariest thing here," said Mike Reilly of North Star. "We have to be pretty careful about generalizing the results to reflect the entire Gallatin Valley."

But because the 53 companies represent $320 million in revenue and 2,300 local jobs, Reilly said the survey results are still significant.

Of the industries represented, the information technology and software industry is projecting the highest revenue growth for the coming year. That industry is also planning to create the most jobs, 26.3 percent, in the next year.

Overall the companies predicted they will add 159 jobs in the coming year. But 83 of those positions fell in the category of companies with 201 or more employees, and only two companies of that size responded. The survey did not ask if the new jobs will be located in the Gallatin Valley.

"There’s always three questions you wished you would have asked," Reilly said. "That’s one of them."

The survey was created because of conversations between the GDC and North Star about a significant lack of local economic data, said Ris Higgins, board member of the GDC. The four sponsors plan to conduct the survey on an annual basis and are hoping for more participation next time around.

"We hope that over time through word of mouth and so forth, this will continue to grow," said Doug Fletcher of North Star. "We hope next spring we have 100 companies, and the next year 200 companies."

The groups presented their survey findings at a luncheon Monday at the GranTree Inn to local business owners, executives and nonprofit groups. Audience members were invited to offer suggestions for the next survey.

Suggestions were made about the wording of some of the questions and David Smith, executive director of the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce, asked why questions about taxes, politics and work force issues were not included.

"You need to be asking about what are the limits to growth, what are the accelerators?" Smith said. "That would have been the most valuable thing we could have got out of this."

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2003/11/04/news/surveybzbigs.txt