2008 local business world in review: despite the downturn, it kept turning

The economy took center stage in 2008, before it belly-flopped into the orchestra pit, dragging America into its worst recession since the Great Depression. The downturn that followed brought the banking industry to its knees, put the American automobile industry in peril, caused sweeping layoffs, mounting foreclosures and shook the American consumer to his core.

Aftershocks from that economic earthquake on Wall Street were felt across Northern New Castle County. Small business owners were hit hard this year, forced to make cuts and sometimes had no choice but to eat a loss – a bitter pill to swallow for any entrepreneur.

Affected business owners fell into a wide range of industries: paving, golf, scrap metal recycling and retail, just to name a few.

Paving companies fought the increasing price of asphalt, a derivative of skyrocketing oil prices that topped a record high of $147 a barrel this summer; golf courses rethought the fundamentals of the sport as stingier golfers took to the links; scrap metal dealers cashed in on the high prices of copper as more residents exchanged their trash for treasure; and retailers watched their revenues dip as fewer customers came calling.

And business owners were dealt another blow this summer when state legislators hiked the gross receipts tax to help balance the $3.3 billion budget.

State legislators also increased the annual fee for foreign corporations and the annual tax on limited liability corporations, adding an expected $52 million to the state’s coffers.

But legislators did not get everything they wanted.

A controversial hospital tax and a proposal to hike the state’s alcohol tax met with staunch opposition and ultimately failed passage, which led the state to cut 8 percent from 2009’s Grant in Aid and reduce the bond bill by $5 million.

Those legislative actions caused a domino effect of cuts across the nonprofit sector, like at the Brandywine Hundred Senior Center, which was forced to cancel trips and could not afford to rehire its fitness instructor because of a $23,515 cut in funding. The Edgemoor Community Center faced a $23,300 reduction in funding that was only exacerbated by a 40 percent increase in energy costs.

However, those escalating energy prices helped fuel a business trend in Northern New Castle County – building green.

The Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay Council broke ground on a green science and technology lodge in Hockessin for the organization’s summer camps, using state-of-the-art building methods to conserve water and reduce the building’s carbon footprint.

Farther outside Hockessin, Limestone Presbyterian Church installed 180 solar panels on its roof, which will save the church about $6,500 a year on energy costs.

The green building trend continued to blossom, eventually becoming the focus of entire developments. Concord Ecovillage in West Grove, Pa., is being planned with so many green initiatives it could actually put more power into the grid than the 33 proposed homes would consume.

But the pace of development slowed in Northern New Castle County as the housing market continued to cool off.

The market began feeling the full effects of the foreclosure crisis this summer when foreclosure filings peaked at 400, with New Castle County accounting for more than half (242) of those foreclosures.

Hundreds of desperate borrowers have called the Hockessin Community Center each month since then, battling to keep their homes after their mortgage rates adjusted or they lost their jobs.

But even in the face of so much economic doom and gloom, some new jobs were created in Delaware this year.

BlackRock, Inc., plans to add at least 300 jobs to its office in the Bellevue Corporate Center thanks to a new law simplifying the tax structure for asset management corporations.

And the entrepreneurial wheels in Delaware kept turning as the state’s large number of small bioscience companies continued to thrive with the support of the Delaware Bioscience Association.

Other entrepreneurships, like Newark based Analtech, Inc., looked abroad for new sources of revenue. With the assistance of Delaware’s World Trade Center, the company saw a record 46 percent increase in international sales.

The city of Wilmington also reached out overseas, founding an Italian Trade and Cultural Office as a point of entry for Italian goods and tourists.

Just like drawing tourists is a priority for Wilmington, drawing holiday shoppers is a priority for Delaware retailers, who experienced a better-than-expected Black Friday, but have watched sales slow down since then.

But even as local retailers brace for what could be the worst holiday shopping season ever, the consumer confidence index limped upward from an all-time low in October, showing that, even in the face of economic crisis, Americans still love to shop.

As the year draws to a close, it brings with it a host of new issues that will doubtlessly make headlines in 2009: job cuts at DuPont and other large Delaware corporations, statewide efforts to attract new employers and the implications sports gaming provides for the state’s business world.