Warren County Chamber of Commerce & Better Hometown
August 27, 2010
chamber@warrencountyga.com / 706.465.9604 / www.warrencountyga.com
$250 for every Work Ready Certified Employee (up to five employees)
To help Georgia small businesses defray the cost of on-the-job training, the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development (GOWD) and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce launched a new outreach program called Hire Work Ready. It is for small businesses – those employing 50 or fewer – that hire Work Ready Certified people to assist with costs associated with hiring and training new workers. Benefits of Hire Work Ready include supporting Georgia’s small businesses by defraying hiring and training costs!!
How do you do it?? Small businesses can apply for Hire Work Ready funding without ever leaving their place of business. The two-step process includes an on-line application on the Georgia Work Ready Web site (www.gaworkready.org) and a 30-minute informational conference call. Approved business owners will be provided with information on using Georgia Work Ready in their hiring process and be given access to an exclusive database of Work Ready Certified job seekers.
Small businesses will be eligible for $250 per certified Work Ready individual hired up to $1,250.
Our pull factor is dropping in Warren County! Is that good or bad?
Here is the bad news first. Every county has a rate called a "pull factor". The pull factor measures Warren County's ability to "pull" customers from outside the community to spend money in Warren County. If a county's pull factor is above 1, this indicates that the county is pulling customers from outside the community. A pull factor less than 1 indicates that the community is losing sales to other counties. Having said that, property taxes are directly related to these pull factors.
I did some checking, and currently, Warren County's pull factor is an abysmal 0.44,(0.48 in 2002, and 0.45 in 2007). This means that we are losing valuable retail sales tax revenue to neighboring counties. Let's look at some comparisons. McDuffie County is a neighboring County, and it has a pull rate of 1.12. Another neighbor, Wilkes County, has a pull rate of 0.74. These pull rates have a direct impact on the "mill rate" and property taxes. The mill rate is the property tax you pay to the City/County/BOE to support community services. In most cases, a community with a higher pull rate generally will have a lower mill rate, which means lower property taxes. In 2008, Warren County's mill rate was 31.4, as compared to McDuffie County's 25.24 and Wilkes County's 26.38. As more local shopping occurs, the government is not as dependant on property taxes. The bottom line is that it is good for us to do our part in trying to increase the pull rate by shopping at home.
Ready for the GOOD NEWS? You, as a Warren County citizen, can change it! ! Here is how:
1. Buy from Warren County businesses. Supporting local businesses can all help lower the county's dependency on property taxes. We should always check the Warren County stores before looking outside the county lines.
2. Encourage your friends, neighbors, and co-workers to shop in Warren County. For instance, encourage them to buy groceries at Gurley's Supermarket or Red & White after work on their way home; buy lunch at Miss Jane's, Stop & Go Convenient Store, Lin's Wok, or Kendrick's Q; buy homemade pastries and sweets at the Jewell Box; prescriptions and gift items at Fulghum-Carr Drug Co., and beauty supplies at J&D Fashion. There are many other opportunities to encourage friends to shop in Warren County.
3. Consider becoming an entrepreneur, and start a business in Warren County. If you see the need for a particular business, consider starting it here and encouraging your friends to shop with you. For example, the owner of K's Wings, Kothenia Gunn, had her business in Thomson. She realized that there was a need for that business in Warrenton, so she decided to open Kay's Wings in Warrenton. This move has increased her local customer base and increased her sales. When you say, "I wish we had a (store name) in town", then maybe you ought to think about opening one or something similar. The Warren County Chamber of Commerce can assist you with planning and guide you through the steps to start a businesses.
4. Speak about your home community in a positive way. Be proud of your home. Always strive to do your part to support your home and improve your home. Care about your county - it's your home.
You, as a citizen, can make a huge difference. Warren County's future is what we citizens will make of it. We make have to change our habits, our driving patterns, and our way of thinking sometimes. But the GOOD NEWS is, it's OUR CHOICE.
Warrenton BioMass Update & Timber Land Trends Workshop See Attachment
Georgia Chamber of Commerce Legislative Update See Attachment
Dental Coverage for Employees - A Benefit That Could Cost You Nothing
Today’s employee understands their employer can’t afford to give them everything, but they are looking to their employer to negotiate more and better benefits than they can obtain on their own. Dental insurance has been identified as the most sought-after employee benefit behind medical insurance. And your local Chamber of Commerce is helping small businesses offer more affordable employee benefits insurance products through its participation inMemberCare AllianceSM, a statewide network of more than 130 Chambers of Commerce.
In addition to discounted medical insurance, small business Chamber members have a choice of two different types of dental insurance. The type of dental insurance, which carries the deepest discounts, is “group” dental insurance. Just as with group health insurance, the employer pays all or a major portion of the employee’s monthly premium for group dental coverage. Another form of dental insurance, which is quickly growing in popularity, is “voluntary” dental insurance. Voluntary dental insurance, in most cases, costs the employer nothing. The employer simply uses their business to obtain a group-based voluntary rate on dental insurance, then offers it to employees at the employee’s own cost.
As with group policies there are some employee participation requirements with voluntary dental plans but if you currently are not offering dental insurance to your employees due to the cost, voluntary dental coverage is your solution. Qualifying business members, with 2-50 employees, can obtain these benefits through the MemberCare Alliance of Warren CountySM at very competitive prices.
Discounts for dental benefits range as high as 10%, through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia*(BCBSGa) and several of the plan options give you the ability to visit any dentist you choose.
The MemberCare Alliance of Warren County program includes a variety of other discounted insurance products, such as: group health insurance, long term and short term disability, accidental death and dismemberment, long term care and term life insurance. All these products are available through participating Chamber-member insurance agents. For more information on any of these insurance offerings, please call the Chamber, one of your participating Chamber-member insurance agents, or Purchasing Alliance Solutions, Inc., (the company that developed the MemberCare Alliance program) at 770-579-1214 or 1-800-782-8254 ext. 3515. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
Join the Chamber today at www.warrencountyga.com
