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If you operate a manufacturing business in the
Minneapolis-St. Paul area, you don't have to look far to
find a location that can save you millions of dollars,
according to an analysis recently completed by the
Dunn County
Economic Development Corporation and
the Stout
Technology Park. According to the "Why West
Central Wisconsin?" study, a $100 million gross
revenue manufacturing company would save about
$15.1 million over 10 years by operating in west
central Wisconsin, instead of the Twin Cities metro
area - and that cost savings is realized by looking
at just three business cost factors.
"Our study examined labor costs, worker's
compensation costs and corporate income tax for
manufacturing companies with $10 million, $50
million and a $100 million in gross revenues," said
Bob Bossany, President of the Dunn County
EDC. "The annual savings realized by these three
sample companies ranged from about a quarter
million dollars to one and a half million dollars." On
August 22, Bossany presented the study results to
over 200 real estate professionals at the Industrial
Real Estate & Economic Development Conference
held in Minneapolis. He also noted in his remarks,
that while industrial property taxes were not included
in the study, they are generally about 40 to 50 percent
less in west central Wisconsin versus a Minneapolis-
St.Paul metro area location - further adding to the cost
savings realized by expanding to Wisconsin.
The Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of
Industrial Properties (NAIOP's) "20th Annual
Comparative Tax Study" further bolsters the case for
Minnesota companies to expand to Wisconsin, based
on lower property taxes. One example it cites is that a
typical 99-employee Minnesota company would pay
$110,504 annually in property tax while the same
business would pay just $59,240 in the State of
Wisconsin. Both the "Why West Central Wisconsin?"
and Minnesota NAIOP studies will be utilized during
the upcoming Forward Wisconsin Minnesota
Marketing Mission to illustrate Wisconsin's lower cost
of doing business to Twin Cities area CEOs. For
more information on the "Why West Central
Wisconsin?" study, contact Bob Bossany at
715.232.4009 or via email at info@dunnedc.com.
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We believe it came out looking good, but then again,
we can't possibly be too objective since it is OUR
annual report after all. For the first time in over ten
years, Forward Wisconsin did not use an outside
agency to design and layout of our annual report.
The design and layout was done "in-house" by
Forward Wisconsin's Web Marketing Specialist
Sharon Seffrood - and we believe she did an
admirable job - while also saving us valuable
resources that we can dedicate to doing more
marketing.
Scott Reigstad in our office again authored the report,
as he has done for the past several years, with
editorial assistance from the rest of the Forward
Wisconsin staff. The 2007 Forward Wisconsin Annual
Report was provided to our board of directors last
week and now you can view it as well by going to the
link below. Please take a few minutes to look through
the annual report and see what we were up to during
the our past fiscal year (July 2006 through June 2007).
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If you're going to talk about "Going Green", it certainly
makes sense to discuss it in the ultimate Wisconsin
place for green: Green Bay. On October 3-5, the
Wisconsin Economic Development Association
(WEDA) will be
holding its fall conference and the group will be
tackling the topic of "How Sustainable and Renewable
Energy Is Driving Community Development." Of
course, three early conference activities will stick with
the "green theme" as well: a golf outing at none other
than Royal St. Patricks Golf Course in nearby
Wrightstown; a tour of the Botanical Gardens and (you
knew this was coming) a reception at Lambeau Field.
These Wednesday, October 3rd events should be
enough reason to attend - and you get even more as
the conference moves into Thursday and Friday.
Larry Weyers, Chairman, President & CEO of Integrys
Energy Group, will be the keynote speaker on
Thursday, October 4 with his topic titled "Our Energy
Future, a Balancing Act." Mr. Weyers is also Chairman
of Wisconsin Public Service Corporation and
Treasurer for the Green Bay Packers so maybe he will
also throw in a few comments on the green and gold.
Friday's agenda will include Commerce Secretary
Mary Burke, State Senator Dave Hanson and Judy
Ziewacz from the Office of Energy Independence. For
more information on the conference, you can click on
the link below.
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Our three featured partners for the month are Alliant
Energy, M&I Bank/Marshall & Ilsley Corporation and
Madison Gas & Electric Company.
Alliant
Energy, headquartered in Madison, is a regulated,
investor-owned public utility holding company
providing regulated electric and natural gas service to
approximately 1 million electric and 420,000 natural
gas customers in the states of Iowa, Wisconsin and
Minnesota. Their service territory covers 54,000
square miles in the heartland of America and includes
9,700 miles of electric transmission lines and 8,000
miles of natural gas main. Barbara J. Swan, Alliant's
Executive Vice President and General Counsel, serves
on the Forward Wisconsin Board of Directors.
Forward Wisconsin also regularly partners with Bruce
Kepner, Alliant's Manager of Economic Development,
on business projects and marketing events.
M&I Bank/Marshall & Ilsley Corporation is a
diversified financial services corporation
headquartered in Milwaukee, with $58.3 billion in
assets. M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank is the largest
Wisconsin-based bank, with 192 offices throughout
the state. In addition, M&I has 48 locations throughout
Arizona; 30 offices along Florida's west coast and in
central Florida; 16 offices in Kansas City and nearby
communities; 22 offices in metro Minneapolis/St. Paul,
and one in Duluth; three offices in Tulsa; and one
office in Las Vegas. M&I's Southwest Bank subsidiary
has 17 offices in the greater St. Louis area. Jeffrey
Ticknor, Senior Vice President, serves on the Forward
Wisconsin Board of Directors.
Madison Gas &
Electric (MGE) generates and
distributes electricity to nearly 135,000 customers in
Dane County, Wisconsin and purchases and
distributes natural gas to more than 138,000
customers in seven south-central and western
Wisconsin counties. MGE's roots date back to 1855
when a few visionary, bold individuals launched the
Madison Gas Light and Coke Co. They developed a
$35,000 manufactured gas plant which initially served
20 street lamps in Capitol Park and a few homes and
offices in the village of Madison. Phyllis Wilhelm,
MGE's Director of Economic Development, serves on
our Board of Directors. Forward Wisconsin also
works with MGE's two Business Development
Managers: John Drury and Jim Mohrbacher.
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Thank you for your ongoing support.
 Jan Alf, Director
Forward Wisconsin
Email:
jalf@execpc.com
Phone:
262.691.7873
Website:
http://www.forwardwi.com
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