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April 2002 NC Marine TradeWinds Newsletter
Politics, Regulations and Marine Issues Focus For NC Participants at DC LegCon 2002
The State Budget Crisis And How It Can Impact Your Marine Business
NC Marine Trade Association to Phase-Out as Membership Organization
2002 Marine EXPO in Norfolk, VA
Recreational Traffic High on NC Intracoastal Waterway
www.NCwaterways.com Growing as Business Service
Politics,
Regulations and Marine Issues Focus For NC Participants at DC LegCon 2002
The May 5th-7th annual NMMA Legislative Conference (LegCon) in DC will tackle a number of issues close to the pocketbooks of NC marine businesses. NC participants will have a chance to talk directly to NC legislators about issues such as Tax Credits and Training Opportunities for Small Businesses (Skilled Workforce Enhancement Act – HR 877); Recreational Marine Employment Act (removing recreational marine industry from the Longshore & Harbor Worker’s Compensation Act); Freedom to Fish Act (HR 31104 and S 1314); Carbon Monoxide Legislation (there is strong concern in the industry about the unneeded overly stringent measures demonstrated in several bills that are being advanced in the House); Ergonomics (again); Trade Promotion Authority (export loss due to US failure to be active in free-trade agreements); push for reauthorization of the Sportsfish Restoration Trust Fund and the Safe Boating Account (expire in 2003 - we receive extensive funding for NC initiatives from these funds – including the Coastal Boating Guide – the boating map component of the www.NCwaterways.com). For more LegCon information on and to register, go to www.NMMA.org or call 202/721-1608.
Guest Article
The
State Budget Crisis And How It Can Impact Your Marine Business
By James M. Bell, President, N.C. Manufacturers Association and Boat Builders Division
During much
of the 1990s, Senator David Hoyle told anyone who would listen to him that a day
of reckoning was coming sooner or later. The good Senator knew that the roaring
economy would one day fall victim to the inevitable business cycle, and that
when that day came, tax collections would decline.
During the golden years of unprecedented economic expansion in
North Carolina, state spending was increasing at an average annual rate of 7%.
Governor Jim Hunt achieved permanent state funding for such projects as
Smart Start and Enhanced Teacher Compensation. At the same time, various tax
rates were being lowered and the state sales tax on food was eliminated
altogether. Additional state revenue was lost through unforeseen natural
disasters and costly lawsuits against the state.
Next came the Asian Currency Collapse that by the late 1990s flooded the United States with imports and damaged even the high tech and telecommunications industries that were growing in North Carolina. Worse still, tens of thousands of import-sensitive jobs in North Carolina were eliminated thereby cutting further into state tax collections. A structural problem was in the making, and one that could not be solved by simple accounting gimmicks.
Senator
Hoyle’s day of reckoning arrived in earnest last year. The General Assembly
was forced to act, and it did so by passing a tax package which will raise over
$1 billion in new revenue over the next two years. At the same time, state
agencies made cuts in spending. Trouble
is, it wasn’t near enough to fix the structural problem going forward. In
recognition of this, Governor Easley has taken extraordinary steps to soften the
blow to next year’s budget by, among other things, seizing tobacco settlement
funds earmarked for other purposes and freezing local government reimbursements.
At the same
time, Commissions and Committees are deliberating in Raleigh to propose
solutions. The Governor’s Commission to Modernize State Finances, for example,
is reviewing last year’s “Loophole Commission” work as well as numerous
“new economy” tax proposals. Not to be outdone, the General Assembly
Leadership has cranked up its own Tax Policy Commission as well as standing
budget writing legislative Subcommittees. Everything is back on the table. All
tax preferences and caps (including the sales tax cap on boats and manufacturing
machinery) are being scrutinized as well as new sources of revenue. Chief among
the latter group is the possibility of a tax on services of all sorts.
The bottom
line is that we are entering a very dangerous time when we must keep our eye on
the ball and present a united front. The Boat Builders Division of the North
Carolina Manufacturers Association is following the process closely, but we need
your help and support. Please contact us at (919) 782-8416 for further
information.
NC
Marine Trade Association to Phase-Out as Membership Organization
The NC Marine
Trade Association will no longer be an operating membership organization,
effective December 2002. Our Marine Trades Services (MTS) will be ending
administration of this trade association for a number of reasons, including the
fact that we cannot lobby and we no longer have the board structure necessary to
manage the NCMTA. We will, however,
continue most of our marine industry services, including this NC Marine
TradeWinds newsletter, through our efforts with www.NCwaterways.com.
How will this
affect you? Not much as we provide all of our NCMTA services through our SBTDC
Marine Trades Services. We are no longer taking new or renewed memberships, but
existing members will still receive discounts at our various training events and
Marine EXPO. All of the services our members and clients have come to
expect are still available including business assistance, a monthly copy of TradeWinds,
fax and email alerts targeting specific businesses, notices of training events,
Marine EXPO, and marketing assistance. It is our hope that a group of
marine trades representatives is willing to take over management of NCMTA and
run it as a true trade association.
2002
Marine EXPO in Norfolk, VA
Plans are coming together for this
year’s Marine EXPO, November 10-12 in Norfolk. The VA Tidewater Marine Trade
Association will be hosting this year, with MTS, SC Marine Association and Sea
Grant once again co-sponsoring and organizing. The Sheraton Norfolk Waterside
Hotel will be the site for the trade show and seminars. Look for an afternoon
tour of Ocean Marine Yacht Center, a brand new marina complex, indoor dry
storage facility, and yacht/mega-yacht repair facility, which is currently
housing two Feadships for paint jobs. Also IMI will offer their forklift and
straddle lift training, Stellar Sales will hold a 2-day sales training for MIC
certification, exhibitors will feature their marine products and services in an
exhibit hall and much more. Keep
watching TradeWinds and NCWaterways.com for more information.
Recreational
Traffic High on NC Intracoastal Waterway
The
US Army Corps of Engineers has supplied us with Lock Counts for 2001, allowing
us to calculate the number of boats using the AIWW (Atlantic Intracoastal
Waterway). Great Bridge Lock is on the Albemarle-Chesapeake Canal and gets all
the commercial traffic on the AIWW. At this site – combining government,
towboats and recreational vessels, the total number of boats is 14,105. The
Deep Creek and South Mills locks are at each end of the Dismal Swamp Canal,
therefore representing the same boats transiting the canal. It is
estimated there are an additional 66 boats at Deep Creek, which are local
boaters who enter and exit the canal via Deep Creek lock. Counting these
with those transiting the canal the Deep Creek count is 1,623. Adding all
locks together, 15,728 vessels used the AIWW in 2001. In an agreement with the
Corps and the Dismal Swamp Canal Visitor Center, we will post boat counts on a
regular basis on NCWaterways.com.
www.NCwaterways.com
Growing as Business Service
More and more
business are using our web site for free business listings, job posting
information, regulatory assistance, bids on government contracts, and boating
tourism location. We are trying to reach small service businesses and businesses
without access to the Internet and will continue to add services and products as
we grow this site. All NC marine-related businesses can list their business
contact information, at no charge, on www.NCWaterways.com.
Your business may already be listed according to the most recent records we had
on file. If you want potential
customers and clients to be able to find you, go to the web address, click on
the “Locate NC Businesses” tab and make sure your business information is
correct.
Most importantly, this is a service for and about NC marine businesses. If you are having problems with providing or obtaining information from this site, let us know. We can’t fix it if we don’t know it’s broken.
The Marine Trades Services is a program of the Small Business Technology Development Center (SBTDC). The SBTDC is a business development service of The University of North Carolina operated in partnership with the US Small Business Administration.