If creating business and jobs is the goal, Madore said, the focus should be on the short-term total elimination of business permit fees, leading to a long-term revenue increase through increased sales taxes paid by new and expanding business.
Illustrating the restrictive cost of permits in Clark County, Madore talked about his firsthand experience at
U.S. Digital.
“We wanted to extend our building, and spent $60,000 just to get the point where we could talk about planning,” he said. “We wanted to build a video studio inside our current warehouse. The [permit] costs were so high for both options, we decided it was not worth it.”
Rather than “throwing lots of money to go try and recruit,” Madore said that leaders must provide a business-friendly environment that will speak for itself.
“I would much rather provide that because there are a whole bunch of people that already live here that are advising other people in other locations about the opportunity here,” Madore explained. “Come here because it’s a great opportunity… That is a much better, fruitful way for businesses to spawn here and grow here than it is to try to throw millions of dollars at a public entity made up of a whole bunch of public officials that go out there and try to talk big businesses into coming here.”
Madore said the CREDC does have a role to play in Southwest Washington, but fundamentally believes that the organization has the wrong makeup.
“It can’t be led by bureaucrats,” he said. “You need private industry that isn’t receiving government funds leading the private industry accelerator.”
Update: After press time, Madore sent the following statement to the Vancouver Business Journal via email:
“I only had one objection with the CREDC. They need to stay on target to create jobs. They are endorsing and funding the CRC light rail tolling project. As long as they do that, I believe we should not use tax funds to lobby against voters’ wishes. They need to get back on track to create jobs, avoid killing jobs, and that project will kill jobs. I am disappointed in [Clark County Commissioner] Steve Stuart. He should have compromised on the middle ground offered by [Commissioner] Tom Mielke to only select, only endorse, one year [of CREDC funding], not two.”
