New online index to provide picture of county economy
By Arnfield Cudal
Beginning in March, citizens and government and business leaders will be able to track the local economy month-to-month on the Clerk & Comptroller’s Web site.
Dr. Stephen Fuller, Director of the Center for Regional Analysis in Fairfax County, Virginia and developer of the Fairfax County Economic Index recently developed the Palm Beach County Economic Index. The Index is comprised of coincident and leading indices, and provides current information through which a county’s economy can be evaluated.
The coincident index provides a picture of the current Palm Beach County economy by considering changes in such areas as jobs, passenger tallies at Palm Beach International Airport, retail sales, bed taxes and consumer confidence ratings. The leading index projects how the economy will perform over the next several months by tracking items such as the number of residential building permits, initial claims for unemployment insurance, consumer expectations, a regional stock index and purchases such as new automobile sales.
Indicative of how the economy is fairing, the Index highlights trends which stakeholders can use to better prepare for downturns and expansions. Because the indices are future oriented, they also will assist in tracking trends which may have a budgetary impact on the county and the public.
The Index will be able to support the fiscal planning process the county employs and enables the Clerk & Comptroller to implement best practices in managing and investing taxpayer dollars.
Arnfield Cudal holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and is the Investment Analyst for the Clerk & Comptroller.