San Benito County in recent months has experienced increased
unemployment, a decrease in retail sales and continually disturbing
foreclosure numbers
– while all but solidifying the premise that economic times
would get tougher before easing up and signifying a wide ripple
effect throughout the community.
HOLLISTER
San Benito County in recent months has experienced increased unemployment, a decrease in retail sales and continually disturbing foreclosure numbers – while all but solidifying the premise that economic times would get tougher before easing up and signifying a wide ripple effect throughout the community.
None of the indicators arrive as a shock in numbers – figures for all three were released in recent weeks – yet altogether convey the vastness of this recession and its impact on a county that has more than paralleled the national downturn.
Foreclosures in recent months, for one, have continued on their normal path and even picked up steam, with 206 filings in December and a 36 percent increase over November while leaving the county as eighth worst per capita in California, according to data from Irvine-based RealtyTrac. The city’s third-quarter sales numbers released last week, meanwhile, show an 8 percent drop from the prior year, though officials await the more crucial fourth-quarter figures.
And while the state’s unemployment rate rose in December to 9.3 percent, San Benito County’s shot up even further that month to 12.1 percent from 9.7 percent, according to a report from the California Employment Development Department.
“There is a lot of turmoil in these three areas – plus more,” said Nancy Martin, executive director at the Economic Development Corp. of San Benito County.
But Martin, though realistic about the times, noted how there are some areas on which the area can capitalize – such as growth in the health care industry and a push for expansion in the affordable housing sector – to help offset the negative trends. Martin also pointed out that the EDC is “establishing our story” while in talks with potential newcomers such as those in the biotech industry.
“We have to have housing that will match (those jobs),” Martin said.
And while there might be more affordable housing opportunities down the line here, the current stock of non-affordable housing, due to the foreclosure crunch, has seen its base drop significantly to a less-expensive point.
“Home sales are going up – it’s just not at the value it was before,” Martin said. “The whole base of the housing market has shifted. We’re still looking for the bottom.”
Here in San Benito County, that bottom had not emerged through at least December, when there were 55 more filings than in November and 114 more than the same period in 2007, according to the RealtyTrac report.
While all three indicators combine to spell a continually gray forecast in San Benito County’s private sector, where many local businesses have been forced to cut back or close altogether, one figure in particular – the sales-tax revenue – looms on the table for Hollister officials as they plan what impact consumers’ declined spending might have on budgeting and the strategy to spend Measure T funds.
Hollister City Manager Clint Quilter said the third-quarter figures were “not as bad” as expected. City leaders, though, are watchful of the holiday numbers and remain leery about the state budget deficit – which is projected to reach possibly $42 billion – and where it might lead.
Quilter explained that almost all city revenue such as funds from sales and property taxes go through the state before returning here.
“I’m a little concerned where they’re getting into a situation where all bets are off,” Quilter said of the state. “I think we’re going to be very conservative.”
Quilter did note, however, that additional Measure T sales-tax revenue during that third quarter had been higher than most recently anticipated.
Reporter Colin McConville contributed to this report.
