FARMINGTON – Money that companies put into the local economy has a multiplier effect, as employees spend their earnings in Franklin County and the rest of the state.
For instance, the 180 jobs that the Greater Franklin Development Corp. helped to bring to the region have a $4.5 million annual payroll, not including benefits, according to the group’s executive director, Alison Hagerstrom.
These jobs were generated by Dyeables Inc., Synernet Medical Transcription Services, New England Wire Products, ICT Group and ScoreHealth Inc.
Employees spend their earnings in local stores, helping to support those stores and their employees, who in turn spend their earnings in Franklin County and elsewhere in Maine, further multiplying the economic impact, Hagerstrom said.
The extent of the secondary economic effects of these companies’ spending in Franklin County were measured by the Regional Output Simulation Model developed the Maine State Planning Office, she said.
According to that model the spending of these companies in Franklin County – in addition to the direct or baseline expenditures – supports additional retail sector sales of $1.6 million, service business sales of $2.5 million, wholesale sales of $199,000, and constructions sales of $40,000, Hagerstrom said.
These secondary sales support 96 Franklin County jobs with payrolls and business owners’ profits of more than $1.5 million, she said.
Directly and indirectly, the activities of these companies in Franklin County generate $241,000 in state personal income tax revenues and $80,000 in state sales revenue, she said.
The Greater Franklin Development Corp., which is overseen by a 13-member board, gets 50 percent of its funding from Franklin County budget, 25 percent from a matching grant from Sandy River Charitable Foundation and 25 percent from private donations.
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