Feb 26, 2020 3 min read

Washington County’s economy strong, growing

The Observer-Reporter’s Feb. 14 story, “Half a billion invested in county last year,” highlighted events from the Eighth Annual Washington County: State of the Economy. As hosts, Community Bank and Washington County Chamber of Commerce were once again proud to be joined by an audience of nearly 400 regional business leaders to celebrate the economic success of Washington County, learn of new opportunities and look forward to achieving continued growth. We were fortunate to have leaders such as the Washington County Board of Commissioners; Mekael Teshome, Vice President and Senior Regional Officer of the Federal Reserve Branch of Cleveland, and Stefani Pashman, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, offer insights and initiatives for our region.

Our organizations, like nearly every business, mirror the regional economy and when business leaders have confidence in their future and invest in their businesses, we all benefit. This confidence was on full display during the event as our business community announced investments of over $514 million in the county last year. These investments coupled with an additional $33.4 million in Local Share Account projects will continue to drive growth in 2020. We believe that this positive outlook, along with ongoing confidence in our nation’s economic future, will certainly create economic growth locally.

However, we also have some obstacles to overcome. As Teshome mentioned, the natural gas industry is forecasting continued low prices and has announced a slowdown in capital investment for 2020. In times like this, it is important that we lean on our diversified economy to weather any slowdown as well as invest in the necessary infrastructure to get our natural gas resources to customers. Although the energy industry is facing some headwinds in the near term, we know that the natural resources here will remain an economic positive for many generations. In the meantime, we remain confident that industries such as health care, manufacturing, technology and financial services will keep the county on an upward trajectory.

Despite some challenges, it is important to remember that the county’s economic outlook also remains strong because of our ability to work together. As Pashman mentioned, our county is an example in the region because of our ability to work together, business and government, to ensure success. Our government leaders have created an environment for growth by keeping taxes low and our business community has partnered with the public sector to share both risk and accomplishment. While we are always ready to take advantage of short-term opportunities, our strength remains in our long-term focus on cultivating a diverse economy through cooperation. This strategy has been the key to our past success and is central to securing our future prosperity.

Barron P. McCune Jr.

CEO, Community Bank

Jeff M. Kotula

President, Washington County Chamber of Commerce