Milwaukee Biz Blog

Forbes Magazine just ranked the "Best States For Business," and I for one am outraged at the 44th-place ranking Wisconsin received.

And before we all point the proverbial finger at someone else for this, we need to take a long hard look at ourselves. We are not good at doing what need to be done to attract new business to the state and promote and nurture the businesses that are already here.

How is it that the state with the 8th-best quality of life ranking (in the same article) cannot be more attractive to business? High taxes? Not really. We are up there, but so are states ranked in the top 10. Growth? Not as bad as some. Production? Nope, we do well here.  Marketing? No, we spend a fair amount.

The numbers don’t tell the story. We do.

The real problem is that we are far better at complaining than we are at promoting. Virginia, Utah and Washington, the "leaders" and movers on the list, are committed to talking about their success stories. These states promote their quality of life, they encourage business to visit and test the waters, they respect growth and they have enlisted their existing businesses as partners in all out self-promotion. We seem to enlist our businesses to complain about the status quo. It now appears that other sates are hearing the message and staying away.

So, how do we fix this? Simple. First, change the message. Second, change the messenger. We cannot rely on Madison or a public relations firm to repair the damage. We need to fix this.

I issue a personal challenge to all of us. Call someone outside the state and tell them why Wisconsin is in fact a great place to do business. Then quietly call your state and local officials and tell them to prove you right!
 

Ken Harwood of Verona, Wis., is a commercial real estate broker with Park Towne Development. He is the Editor of News and Notes and www.WisconsinDevelopment.com, both electronic news outlets for economic development in the state. He also is the former mayor of Neenah and is currently a member of the Verona City Council. He may be reached at editor@WisconsinDevelopment.com.

Free tuition for all University of Wisconsin students is unrealistic for the simple fact that it raises taxes in a state whose residents, if not thepoliticians, know that it is already on the high end on the tax scale.

We can accomplish the objective, which is to keep students in Wisconsin after graduation, however, with a much better and actually workable solution.

First, the state would make student loans available to any student enrolled in the UW or the technical college systems. The loans would be made at slightly above market yet fair rates (keep reading) and would be easily available through any participating loaninstitution.

The state would fund the loans from a variety of currently available funds or simply borrow the money. Upon graduation, or leaving the system, the student would receive an annual statement based on a long-term repayment schedule.

Let's say 20 years, just for the sake of argument. Annual payments would be required or a person would be in default of theloan, so this would not be a free ride, but once again keep reading.

Finally, students would be able to deduct the interest portion of the loan from the bottom line on their state tax return. The net effect is that students would be able to attend UW or state technical campuses and would have 20 years to repay the state interest-free, as long as the student wasan employee in the state and paid state income tax.

The cost to the state would be the interest on the original loan. This brings me back to the above-market rate used to establish the loans. A student leaving the state would be repaying the state at a higher rate than the actual cost of the loan and thus subsidizing the loan of the student who remains in the state.

This is not a no-cost option, but exponentially less expensive than the free tuition option. It benefits all Wisconsin students not just a select few and it providesneeded new revenues to the university and tech systems in the state.

The incentive to remain in the state after graduation would be high and the real opportunity for our students to pursue a post-secondary education would be exceptional.

Verona City Councilman Kenneth Harwood is a sales and marketing executive for Conservancy Place, a multi-use development planned by Park Towne Corp. in Madison. He also is the former mayor of Neenah and a former local government liaison to the governor. Additional information is available at www.conservancyplace.com.