Government Failure in Dickenson County, VA

Let's look at education and low priority it receives in nearby Dickenson County, Virginia. The taxpayers have spent almost $7 million in "industrial recruitment" (corporate welfare) first for Nexus that went broke then Travelocity.com to set up call centers. Neither pays much and the way the DOT-COMS have done on Wall Street makes it risky. According to Dickenson County officials in the Coalfield Progress on May 22, 2002, "Dickenson County has a high rate of illiteracy.... Fifty percent of the county's adult residents don't have a high school diploma, and less than 10 percent of county residents are college educated..." Yet unless we deal with adult illiteracy and general hostility from these type of people, their children end up discouraged as well. Dickenson County schools need as much as $30 million in repairs but money is spent to subsidize day care and training for Travelocity while the state cuts funding for local schools and fights to put "In God we trust" on school walls. I'm glad somebody is laughing.

While county supervisors tell me we can't get decent jobs because of low levels of education, schools are starved for funding while tax dollars (almost $7 million) go to subsidize low-wage employers like telemarketing firms. (Called technology jobs.)

At a cost of almost $7 million to the taxpayers to help Travelocity, at 400 workers this comes to $17,500 each. For that price, we could have paid tuition/books (about $3000 per year at 20 hours per semester) for almost six years of community college or for 1200 people to get an associates degree. They would then have real marketable skills attractive to many other fine companies that would locate here. Guess it's better to keep people in their place than change anything.

Update May 2005: Travelocity: A warning for region? Travelocity.com decides to dump Clintwood, Virginia for India. Congressman Rick Boucher (D VA 9th) calls this a success story and that he deserves full credit. Companies like Sykes and Travelocity are dumping rural America in droves while the local press asked why Congressman Boucher never saw it coming.

Update March 2003. Well they did it again. Those promised 450 "new jobs" turned out to be 250 including temps and part-time workers with no benefits. The pay is so low they even subsidize their daycare. Total cost, in excess of $43,000 per job.

December 27, 2001: The Dickenson County Industrial Development Authority has been approved for a loan of up to $250,000 to help Travelocity.com expand its Clintwood call center. The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority approved the loan Dec. 20, and the money will be used to pay for construction and improvements to the second floor of the Travelocity building in the Dickenson County Technology Park. About 220 employees now work at Travelocity.com's Clintwood customer service center. By June, less than a year after the Clintwood center began taking calls, Travelocity officials hope to have nearly doubled that number. They got no cash. Ref. Coalfield.com and Dickenson Star.

Update March 3, 2003. VCEDA "loans" the Dickenson County IDA $250,000 for "education" of Travelocity workers. It was supposed to be paid back through a ten year least agreement between Dickenson County and Travelocity. Ref. Kingsport Times-News

Update March 31, 2003. Dickenson County officials are hoping a new child-care center will help lure industry. The $1.6-million daycare center should be ready by early 2004. The cost is now up to about $8.8 million for Travelocity. To quote a local press report, "The facility is being built in the Dickenson County Technology Park adjacent to the Travelocity Call Center. Company officials said the promise of child care was one incentive that lured the business to Clintwood. The company plans to subsidize 54 of the 107 slots for children of its 250 local employees. The other slots are for others in the community." At about $8 an hour, this isn't enough to live on so taxpayers have to pay for daycare too.

While county supervisors tell me we can't get decent jobs because of low levels of education, schools are starved for funding while tax dollars (almost $8.8 million) go to subsidize low-wage employers with so-called "technology jobs." At a cost of almost $8.5 million to the taxpayers to help Travelocity, at 400 workers this comes to $22,000 each. For that price, we could have paid tuition/books (about $3000 per year at 20 hours per semester) for over 7 years of community college or for 1200 people to get an associates degree. They would then have real marketable skills attractive to many other fine companies that would locate here. Guess it's better to keep people in their place than change anything.

Update May 2005: Travelocity.com decides to dump Clintwood, Virginia for India. Congressman Rick Boucher (D VA 9th) calls this a success story and that he deserves full credit. Companies like Sykes and Travelocity are dumping rural America in droves, while the local press asked why Congressman Boucher never saw it coming. Those promised 500 "new jobs" turned out to be 250 including temps and part-time workers with no benefits. Total cost, in excess of $34,000 per job.

Update June 4, 2005. To quote a local press report, "The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority wants to keep the jobs it lures to Southwest Virginia, which has endured losses in recent years to cheaper overseas labor...the authority has changed its recruitment and development strategies for the upcoming fiscal year...State and federal contracts are among the new targets...The region had success luring an AT&T Virginia Relay Center to Norton and a Virginia Employment Commission customer care center to Grundy. Both rely on government contracts to keep them in business. "Federal contracts can be lucrative and provide stable, long-term employment opportunities...Usually, the compensation is excellent and the benefit package is excellent. The benefits and compensation frequently mirrors federal and state pay and benefits." Ref. Bristol Herald Courier.

Update June 22, 2005. To quote, "An $18 million federal contract will mean more than 80 new jobs in Dickenson County. SI International, a company based in Reston, Va., will open a call center in the former Travelocity building...SI International has already contacted some former Travelocity workers about the possibility of hiring them. The company offers hourly wages in the $9 to $10 range...The authority decided last month to change its recruitment efforts to focus more on landing companies that contract to provide services for federal and state governments...Because it won a federal contract, the company will not require any financial incentives from the authority..." Ref. Bristol Herald Courier

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