
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 25, 1995                   TAG: 9505250067
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GOVERNOR'S OPPORTUNITY FUND SMILES ON ROANOKE

THE ROANOKE AREA has received one-fifth of the checks from the fund, the state trade secretary says.

There's no need to worry about the Roanoke area receiving its share of the state's economic development honey pot. The region, though home to less than one-tenth of the state's population, has received one-fifth of the checks from the Governor's Opportunity Fund since it was set up in 1993.

Secretary of Commerce and Trade Robert Skunda used that fact to sweeten a progress report Wednesday to Roanoke-area business leaders on the work of his office.

Skunda, a member of the Allen administration, spoke at Virginia Western Community College to the Regional Economic Development Advisory Council, one of 18 local planning groups in the state formed last year to focus on economic issues.

The local body's roster has 43 members and includes economic developers with local government agencies and nonprofit groups, chamber of commerce officials and representatives of big and small companies.

Overall, the administration is claiming success during its first 18 months. The state's list of companies that may expand in Virginia has doubled to more than 500, Skunda said.

"I'm convinced we are doing a better job of competing" in the bidding wars between states for industrial projects, he said.

Of 69 payments from the Opportunity Fund since its inception by Gov. Douglas Wilder in 1993, 13 have supported projects in the Roanoke and New River valleys, Alleghany Highlands and nearby counties, said state spokesman Rick Richardson.

Gov. George Allen takes from the fund one-time grants with which to build sewers, roads and other infrastructure needed to entice Virginia companies to expand, or to lure companies from outside the state. The average grant is $250,000.

Skunda said the administration plans to shrink the state Economic Development Department by forming the Virginia Regional Economic Development Partnership on July 1. Its mission is expected to include marketing the state as a place to do business, a job now done by the department, said Richardson. The partnership is being formed, he said, in part to shift state employees to a nongovernment agency, where they can be offered incentive pay to "sell" the state. Such a pay policy isn't legal for state employees.

by CNB