The Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce hosted the 2010 Economic Summit at Howard Payne University on Thursday morning. A sold out crowd was present, ready to hear the state of not only Brownwood’s economy, but also a report on the economy of Texas, from State Comptroller Susan Combs. Another special guest was Pete Havel from the United States Chamber of Commerce.
Those in attendance included many businessmen, business women, city and county officials, HPU Faculty and Staff, Brownwood ISD administration, and even the Executive VP of Ranger College.
The featured speaker, Comptroller Susan Combs, pointed out that her mission early on after being elected to the position was to make her office and the finances of the state of Texas more transparent to the citizens. Her motto said it all: “It is Your Money”. The third day as comptroller, Combs set up a website showing the spending of her office on a virtual check register. There is a website that also shows where the money (revenue) comes from.
Speaking of the Texas economy, Combs pointed out the state is actually faring better than most when compared nationally. Texas’ unemployment rate as of December 2009 was at 8.3%. There was a net job loss of 275,000 from December 2008 through December 2009. During October and November of 2009, approximately 73,000 jobs were added to the economy. In December 2009 the state saw another period of job losses of 23,900.
Historically speaking, Combs explained how the state has done well in diversifying revenue since the bank failures of the 80s when over 400+ banks closed and over 400,000 jobs were lost. During the days when oil was very profitable, Texas put sales tax money from this sector into a “rainy day fund” which helps to cushion our economy. Combs also mentioned that state lending now has been more careful and that Texans in general “didn’t get stupid about buying homes they couldn’t afford” which helped Texas have a lower foreclosure rate than many other states. Texas only sees one out of every 780 homes get a foreclosure notice. In comparison, Nevada had a 1:116 ratio and California saw an alarming 1:80 ratio of foreclosures.
She pointed out that Brownwood industrial businesses help insulate the Brownwood economy, which is currently 6.7% dropping recently from 7%.
Combs explained that most of the state’s revenue, 60% of it, comes from sales tax dollars. “I hope we start shopping again”, stated the comptroller, pointing out that “plain folks buying, generates most of our state’s revenue.” Cigarette tax and restaurant taxes have remained pretty steady in numbers.
The Comptroller has also started working to get all state agencies to use the same accounting systems or to have “one set of books” so that the economy is more transparent.
Another project Combs noted was the website
