By Gary Chandler
These are the great days in Corinth and Alcorn County. The Crossroads has long served as an employment and retail hub for adjacent counties in Northeast Mississippi and southwest Tennessee. Corinth and Alcorn County enter 2016 riding a wave of the momentum created in part by seven job-creation projects.
The results include 320 new jobs during the past 24 months. Existing manufacturing and business expansions from Avectus HealthCare Solutions, KeyTronicEMS (formerly Ayrshire Electronics) and Caterpillar fueled an increase in payroll of $11 million and capital investment of $59 million announced.
Alcorn County recently has recorded some of its lowest unemployment rates in a decade. The December 2015 rate stood at 6.3 percent and ranks as the ninth-lowest rate among counties in Mississippi for the reporting period. In addition, Alcorn County’s December 2015 unemployment rate percentage is below the state rate of 7.2 percent.
The existing Corinth/South Alcorn Industrial Park was designated Fiber Ready by AT&T recently. Such designation elevates awareness that AT&T has fiber facilities in place to deliver advanced services to business/manufacturing customers in the Corinth/South Alcorn Industrial Park.
A new industrial park setting with abundant rail access has been purchased. The Northeast Mississippi RailHub is comprised of more than 400 acres served by two rail lines. A $225,000 site clearing project was just completed thanks to grant funds from the Tennessee Valley Authority, Mississippi Development Authority and local governments. A more robust $500,000 site improvement project is proposed for 2016 on the 140 acre RailHub-South site.
Corinth city government enacted tax incentive programs that have encouraged growth and revitalization across town. Several buildings in Corinth have been improved as a result. A few examples include the SoCo (South Corinth) District corridor, which houses a diverse group of retail and dining establishments in downtown. Other examples include Big Boy’s Pawn and the Dodd Eye Clinic.
Corinth and Alcorn County represent a diverse mix of culture, history and industry. Serving as a gateway to The Magnolia State, Corinth and Alcorn County are proud ambassadors of Mississippi and all that our great state has to offer. We pride ourselves on innovation and progress and seek to advance and excel in areas of industry, commerce and culture.
GARY CHANDLER is president of The Alliance of Corinth and Alcorn County.
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