How the other half lives.

• Position: North Carolina counties' eligibility for Department of Commerce's Job Creation Tax Credit program

Question: When is it good to be "severely distressed?"

Answer: When being so designated creates a job or two.

It's hardly a rarity in North Carolina, where half the state's counties merit the classification from the state Department of Commerce, making them eligible for economic development assistance.

The Job Creation Tax Credit program covers 33 counties. This gives them a $2,800 credit on state taxes for each job created by companies that expand or new companies that move in. Those 33 counties, plus 17 others, qualify for Industrial Building Renovation Funds, in which manufacturers can receive a low-interest loan of $1,200 -- up to a total of $250,000 -- for each job they create. The money can be used to renovate buildings or buy equipment. Since their start in 1987, the programs have received $11 million from the General Assembly.

"I suppose |the counties~ have mixed feelings about it," says Charles Johnson of the Commerce Department in Raleigh. "There's probably a little more gnashing of teeth as they move up the rankings and eventually work their way off. They're not considered severely distressed anymore, but they don't have that extra incentive to help them lure new industry either."

...