Since 1996, the North Carolina Department of Commerce has been ranking the state’s 100 counties based on their economic strength. This ranking is used to steer tax credits and grants towards the state’s most distressed areas, but it does not account for differences in affluence within a county’s borders.
97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck spoke with members of the Chatham News + Record about an extensive report the newspaper recently published, spotlighting how disadvantageous this ranking system is to some communities.
In North Carolina every county is placed into a Tier system. This Tier system is incorporated into various state programs to encourage economic activity in the less prosperous areas of the state.
The 100 counties in North Carolina are split up into three Tiers, with Tier 1 being the most economically impoverished and Tier 3 being the least.
Chatham County as a whole is classified as a Tier 3 county. It’s ranked in the top 20 which means it’s categorized as one of the state’s least economically disadvantaged areas.
But not all of the county is well-off.
Bill Horner is the publisher and editor of the Chatham News + Record. He said economic inequality within a county is not taken into account in the Tier system.
“If you know Chatham County, you know that the northern part of the county is just exploding economically, but in Siler city in the eastern part of the county – where one of our offices is – it’s just not happening,” Horner said. “So the tier system is a way for the Department of Commerce to rank North Carolina’s 100 counties based on the level of economic distress.”
The ranking takes into consideration four different things: unemployment rates, household income, population growth and the assessed property value per capita.
Horner said, on paper, the Department of Commerce sees Chatham County as too rich to receive aid and that can leave some areas within the county without necessary support.
“You have a number of municipalities in North Carolina where this happens where you have a pocket of poverty – where you have a town that looks tier one within a tier three county,” Horner said.
Even though places like Siler City are in need of funds to help spur economic growth and bring in jobs, because Chatham is classified as a Tier 3 county, it has been barred from even applying for many state-funding programs.
In its report, the Chatham New + Record said if Siler City was a county itself, it would rank 98th out of the 100 North Carolina counties in median household income. This means the city is paying a huge price by being a town with “hidden distress” located in a Tier 3 county.
“This is a system that was designed to level the playing field but it’s created problems because it doesn’t allow for exemptions,” Horner said. “Legislators have introduced bill after bill after bill to address it but the tier one and tier two counties don’t want it changed.”
Horner said there are ways to change the Tier system. He said it could be as simple as allowing municipalities located within a Tier 3 county a short-term exemption when applying for aid – but even after years of discussion, that hasn’t happened yet.
“The pie of dollars that’s available for economic development that’s going to come from the state is finite,” Horner said. “Twenty years ago maybe this was the best way, but right now it’s not the best way to dole out those dollars.”
To learn more about the Tier system and to read the Chatham News + Record’s extensive report, fronted by Bill Horner and Adrianne Cleven, visit its website.
