What worries York, Chester, Lancaster business leaders? SC Chamber wants to know

Business leaders in York, Chester and Lancaster counties say they hold deep concerns over infrastructure improvements, health care costs and workforce development as they look to increase production.

Members from six different chambers of commerce from the region attended a luncheon Wednesday afternoon in Rock Hill as part of a statewide listening tour with the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

Ted Pitts, the state chamber’s president and CEO, stopped in Rock Hill this week as a part of his 19-stop 2017 “Grassroots” listening tour around the state. He said the state chamber is listening to local officials on every stop to understand which priorities it should support over the near future.

“We’re looking at new items as concerns on our agenda,” Pitts said.

S.C. Rep. Raye Felder (R-Fort Mill) and S.C. Sens. Wes Climer (R-Rock Hill) and Mike Fanning (D-Great Falls) were among about 50 attendees at the event, which was hosted by the York County Regional Chamber, the Greater Clover Chamber, the Greater York Chamber, the Lake Wylie Chamber and the Lancaster County Chamber.

Among the issues discussed were workforce development, corporate tax rates, federal and state regulations, health care costs, and staying competitive with other states and nations.

Pitts also said it was critical to push for an easier way to cut red tape on business licenses, a hurdle he said many contractors have to clear.

Pitts argued that companies across the state are having trouble finding and hiring qualified candidates because many lack either the technical or the “soft” skills necessary, like showing up on time or passing a drug test.

“The last thing we want is for Volvo to announce a new round of jobs in Berkeley County and then immediately hold job fairs in North Carolina and Georgia,” Pitts said. “That doesn’t help the local economy.”

Many business leaders in attendance said they felt property taxes were too high. Pitts said South Carolina has the highest industrial property tax in the United States, and the eighth-highest commercial property tax rate in the nation.

Fanning said he thought it was crucial to enact corporate tax reform, arguing that it would help the state to be more competitive.

Nearly all of the leaders who voted in an interactive poll said they thought federal or state regulations hindered their businesses. Pitts told the audience that the state chamber would lobby local legislators to push for looser regulations and quicker response times.

Pitts said he believed the Affordable Care Act was “collapsing on itself” and called on national lawmakers to help create a new health care system. He said the costs to both employers and employees have risen dramatically.

Twenty-one of 45 voters at the luncheon listed health care costs as their primary concern for their businesses.

This story was originally published September 27, 2017 at 6:26 PM with the headline "What worries York, Chester, Lancaster business leaders? SC Chamber wants to know."