In our series on the Town of Hillsborough’s use of special assessments for project development financing we left by contrasting the tool with tax increment financing in Part I of this series. Part II reviews some of the unique aspects of the implementation process. The School of Government’s Kara Mi … Continued

The Community Development and Block Grant Program (CDBG) is one of the key public sources of funds for community water and sewer projects in North Carolina and across the country. While the amount of funds available for water and sewer projects is not as large as other federal programs such as joint … Continued

Imagine that the employer your community has depended on for decades shuts down unexpectedly. Suddenly, ten-thousand people are now out of work and the local economy is in flux as residents begin searching for employment in neighboring municipalities. How do you respond to the sudden uncertainty and … Continued

A series of posts last year profiled case studies for “How Counties Organize to Carry Out Economic Development.” Links to the series can be found here (parts I, II, III, IV, and V). The fifth case profiled Union County, NC, where—at the time—local leaders were considering a new multi-jurisdictional … Continued

Last week, I spent an afternoon “clamming” in a Massachusetts estuary with my family. After a few hours of futile “raking,” a local resident told my dad and me that a commercial fisherman swept the area just the week before, and we were unlikely to find very many clams. He directed us toward an area … Continued

Local governments may find opportunities for economic development through energy programs and energy installations.  Some communities have even used energy installations to turn otherwise undesirable properties into economic opportunities. The town of Hull, Massachusetts is located on a peninsula in … Continued

  A historic, downtown building on Main Street has been vacant for the last 30 years. Once an iconic hotel for the Town, today the building is empty, other than a few occupied tenants filling retail space on the ground floor. The small Town has a tier 1 designation and is working hard to suppor … Continued

This time of year, I travel across North Carolina orienting newly elected city and county officials. I routinely ask why they ran for office and hear how they want to strengthen the economy or attract good jobs. New to a city council or board of commissioners, these elected officials are eager to ac … Continued

  Quick trivia question—what is the northernmost town on earth? If you answered Santa’s Village, sorry.  The man from the North Pole has had a busy week, but the actual answer is Longyearbyen in the Svalbard archipelago. The Svalbard archipelago lies about 400 miles north of the northern coast … Continued

The shovels are out and the hard hats are on. One of the newest development projects in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina broke ground this month. USAInvestCo is building Northern Riverfront Marina and Hotel next to the City’s new Convention Center.  It will include a 204-slip marina, a hotel, ret … Continued