DCED head pushes for more economic development funds

Dennis Davin’s title alone – secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development – indicates money is at the root of his professional being. For sufficient community and economic development to occur, funding must be available.
But as the Legislature and Gov. Tom Wolf – again – wrestle with finalizing a budget, Davin is legitimately concerned about available dollars for department-related programs. He said House Bill 218, which the House passed in early April and is before the Senate, is decidedly not DCED-friendly.
“It slashes funding for crucial economic-development programs,” Davin said in a meeting with the Observer-Reporter editorial board last week. “Job losses would be multiple, especially in manufacturing and technology. It also would remove incentives for businesses to operate here.”
Friday is the deadline for the 2017-18 budget to be in place, and senators believe it will pass on time before going to Wolf to be signed into law. But it is a bare-bones plan that, according to majority Republican senators, requires $2.2 billion just to balance the budget. Top GOP members of the Senate oppose a tax increase and may push to borrow money to cover much of the deficit.
Davin is hoping, somehow, the Senate can come up with more funding than is targeted for DCED programs. He said there are five areas that would absorb major hits under the current plan: job creation, job training, international business development, tourism and manufacturing.
“I think it would be a disservice to us and the citizens of Pennsylvania if (a lot) of job-training dollars are wiped out,” he said during his visit to Washington, not far from his Bethel Park home. “The one thing lacking (in the state) is a trained workforce. We also want programs for manufacturing, and it’s important that Pennsylvania markets itself.”
The secretary singled out Washington as one of many similarly sized Western Pennsylvania towns that could benefit from manufacturing and other economic development ventures.
“Places outside major cities can attract jobs,” he said. “We want to do that.”
Davin was in one of those “places” just before Thanksgiving, when he traveled to Donora for a panel discussion on the economic impacts the Shell cracker plant being built in Beaver County could have on the Monongahela Valley. The 20-member panel was composed of mostly business and community leaders in the Valley.
“We think the Beaver County plant will provide opportunities to bring other companies here,” Davin said at the time. “This is probably the biggest redevelopment project in Pennsylvania in the last 50 years. If things are working right and we do what we need to do, this can have a tremendous benefit.”
He still believes that – while stressing more money is needed to make things work right.