Henrico County Manager Virgil Hazelett told county business leaders this morning the state of the county is good, particularly when compared to the nation's.
Henrico is well above the mark when compared to most jurisdictions in how it has dealth with economic challenges, he said.
The local housing market remains of concern, he said, noting that 15 percent of all single-family home sales are foreclosures. Those figures, however, are also below trends in other parts of the country.
"One thing is certain," he said. "This is going to be a long road to recovery."
Hazelett, speaking at a Greater Richmond Chamber breakfast, noted improvements in consumer spending. Sales tax collections through June were up 5.2 percent in the last fiscal year and the county's share of regional sales, he said, has increased every year since the recession began.
The county has also led the region in job creation with a recent report showing that of 1,734 jobs created in the Richmond region between October 2010 and February 2011, 1,325, or 76 percent, of them were in Henrico.
And the area's unemployment rate is 6.7 percent, below the nation's rate of 9.1 percent.
"I don't want to paint a bleak picture. I want to paint a factual picture," he said. "Recovery will come slower. It will come one job at a time."
(This has been a breaking news update. Read more in tomorrow's Richmond Times-Dispatch.)
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement