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DELAWARE – Delaware business leaders are asking lawmakers to take several steps in the name of creating a better environment for business.
Concerns looming over the business world
This call to action comes in the form of the recently released Delaware Investment Agenda Report by the Delaware Business Roundtable (DBRT).
DBRT is a group of Delaware business, nonprofit, and institutional leaders who advocate for prosperity and economic growth. Chairman Brian DiSabatino is his CEO of EDiS Company, a construction group active in the Mid-Atlantic region.
And while current indicators show that Delaware’s business environment is healthy, DiSabatino said there are “troubling” concerns looming. “State spending is starting to outpace revenue,” he said.
Such a trajectory creates uncertainty in the business world, DiSabatino said.
“[Lawmakers] It may be possible to reduce these expenses, but it is unlikely,” DiSabatino said. “We can raise taxes… [but] If taxes are increased, businesses will start fleeing. Or it could expand the tax base by improving the environment for existing businesses and attracting new ones. ”
“It’s not all doom and gloom”
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Despite these needed improvements, DiSabatino calls Delaware “a great place to do business.”
“There are very few places in the country where you can bring together local, county-wide, state-wide and federal officials at a moment’s notice to solve a problem,” DiSabatino said. “We’re all on the same softball fields, we’re all in the same churches, synagogues, mosques together, we go to the beach together. That forces us to have these collegial conversations and that I believe that makes Delaware a distinctive and better place to do business.”
Let’s look at the problem
But aiming for a better environment, DBRT members focused on the numbers.
DiSabatino said he found that the number of Delawareans participating in the workforce is one of the lowest in the country. Delaware invests the least per capita as a state, he added.
“When we started our research, it was a common complaint from the innovative and entrepreneurial community. They see it, they know it,” DiSabatino said. .
Making recommendations
To address these issues, the DBRT has set out a number of steps that lawmakers can take, focusing on three key areas: innovation and entrepreneurship, talent and workforce, and long-term competitiveness. .
Among these measures is the proposed creation of a bipartisan, independent Delaware Futures Council. This group will be tasked with consulting with the business community and advocating strategies to better support the business community.
DiSabatino said another ongoing effort is to improve Delaware’s marketing as a place for innovation. To ensure success, DiSabatino says universities and innovators need to work together. Individuals and organizations from disenfranchised communities may be the best candidates for the job, he says.
“If we can bridge that gap and connect their intellectual capital with financial capital and other areas of investment, we believe we can uncover growth in areas of the economy that are not yet evident,” DiSabatino said. Told.
“Big Leap”
DiSabatino said all of this work is a big and ambitious step forward.
“If we don’t make a big leap forward, it’s going to take a lot longer.” [to fix it.] You’ll need to fix it eventually, but it’s easier to fix it now. We don’t need to try to solve this problem 10 years from now,” DiSabatino said. “It’s definitely a marathon. We’re definitely going to look for some low-hanging fruit here and work on short-term things. But we’re preparing for the long term.”
And these efforts will largely depend on the selection of Delaware’s next governor, DiSabatino and state legislators say.
“This report will require all of the energy, weight and leadership of the next governor. We are really tied to the leadership ability of the person sitting in that executive seat,” DiSabatino said. . “Without question, we need to expand our tax base by growing the businesses that already exist and attracting business from outside the state.”
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