Fortino brings business experience to the table
For more than 30 years, Phil Fortino was known throughout the
county as a business owner, someone who supplied furniture and
electronics to their homes. But in 2008, during the middle of the
economic downturn, Fortino shut down his business to focus on other
ways to help the community.
Fortino brings business experience to the table
For more than 30 years, Phil Fortino was known throughout the county as a business owner, someone who supplied furniture and electronics to their homes. But in 2008, during the middle of the economic downturn, Fortino shut down his business to focus on other ways to help the community.
For the first time, Fortino is running for an elected position, as county supervisor in District 4. District 4’s boundaries stretch from Union Road to the southern end of San Benito County.
Fortino said he thinks his strong business background and the fact he has spent all 55 years of his life within the county more than make up for his lack of political experience.
“I don’t see how anyone could be more qualified for the position,” Fortino said.
Fortino’s business, called Fortino’s Total Home, closed in late 2008 when the housing market plummeted and people stopped buying new furniture. Closing the store was one of the toughest things he ever had to do.
“It’s like having a 30-year-old child who had been on life support for three years,” Fortino said. “You are looking from some sort of sign of life and there were no signs of life. That’s what it was like – it was heart wrenching. ”
But before that, his establishment had flourished and allowed him to develop a business mindset, something he thinks the county desperately needs, Fortino said.
“We had to cut and cut and cut until we got down to just a few key people doing everything we could possibly do,” Fortino said.
Those are the type of decisions he is used to making, he said.
In a time of financial instability, cutting costs and not losing services is important to the county, Fortino said.
“You don’t cut across the board,” Fortino said. “Every department would have to be scrutinized independently. You cut where necessary, but every department needs to roll up their sleeves and work hard.”
Just as important as it is not to cut money from all departments, the city needs to attract new business to help alleviate the high unemployment rate, he added.
To help attract new business, Fortino is prepared to create an “economic vitality task force” that would look at ways to help prepare incoming business to the type of problems they could face in San Benito County.
The task force would be the business face for San Benito County, Fortino said.
The task force would do outreach to businesses throughout the state and country, trying to attract them to the area, Fortino said. He hopes the new business would keep San Benito County citizens within their own county.
“Creating jobs is the key,” he said. “Better than 50 percent of our workforce leaves San Benito County to go to work. It creates a number of problems.”
Fortino said he thinks with more businesses and more people staying in the area during the workweek, the county would get more money from taxes and it would have a trickle-down effect on the rest of county, he said.
“That tax base is then going to give us better roads, help our school system and help maintain our quality of life down here,” Fortino said.
And the start for business development in San Benito County might start with Solargen, Fortino said.
The project could bring the county its flagship program that would be a national-recognized endeavor, he said. And its benefit to the county might stretch beyond green energy.
“It would put San Benito County at the forefront,” Fortino said. “It could potentially get the ball rolling for other businesses.”
Another way to attract money into the area is keeping Clear Creek Management Area open, he said. The area is too important to the San Benito County economy to keep it closed.
“Those are open lands and those lands should be used for public use, which is what they were acquired for,” he said.
But it all starts with a new business mindset.
The county needs to do whatever it can do to bring money and jobs into the area and his business background is perfect for the county’s needs, Fortino said.
Phil Fortino
Age: 55
Occupation: retired business owner
Elected Political Experience: none
