Cass County Nebraska Economic Development Council (CCNEDC) recently announced $16.5 Million in 2020 capital investment – projects catalyzed by a robust year, despite the global health and economic pandemic, according to Jennifer Serkiz, CCNEDC executive director.
“We are a collaborative community with unique growth opportunities,” Serkiz said. “Those attributes have always served us well – and were especially important to our success over the last 12 months.”
Serkiz made the capital-investment announcement at CCNEDC’s January 27 virtual annual meeting. She said the organization, along with community partners and stakeholders, responded to 17 economic-growth opportunities, which generated four Cass County site visits and produced two landed projects.
One of those projects, Vireo Systems’ expansion is expected to add more than $20 million to the regional economy – and nearly 300 jobs – over the next three-to-five years.
Altogether, CCNEDC’s 2020 efforts catalyzed 290 new-and-retained jobs in Cass County.
CCNEDC also conducted 35 business, retention-and-expansion meetings, more than 20 project and site development meetings and 80-plus business and community interactions.
“There is no substitute for aspiration, and this is a community that consistently aspires to more. We are nimble. We are innovative. We work together,” Serkiz said. “So many thanks are due to a great number of individuals for this type of momentum. I join many community stakeholders and partners today in congratulating Cass County on their 2020 success.
In addition to sharing Cass County’s 2020 successes, Serkiz also rolled out a two-year economic impact analysis that showed 2019-2020 projects generated by CCNEDC are anticipated to boost payroll income by approximately “$29.2 million for jobs directly related to the operations” of the projects. This includes “additional business-to-business spending and additional household spending.”
The economic impact analysis also noted CCNEDC’s primary projects of the past two years are expected to add “$413.4 million to the local economy each year,” when fully operational.