LoCo as Economic Powerhouse with Buddy Rizer of Loudoun County Economic Development

Loudoun County has become an economic powerhouse. In fact, it's one of the richest counties in the nation—meaning residents share access to an abundance of jobs, services and resources. Buddy Rizer is Director for Economic Development in Loudoun County, and here we discuss Loudoun's economic present and future.

• A certified economic developer, Buddy leads the agency responsible for encouraging growth and developing relationships with Loudoun’s business community in both the commercial and agricultural-based business sectors.
  
  
• Data centers are part of the reason Loudoun County’s economy is so strong.  Loudoun receives about $300 million a year in local tax revenue from the data centers and that number is projected to increase to $400 million.  Data centers are not dependent on other things that are impacting the economy right now, so Loudoun County continues to grow.
  
  
• But going back to March 16^th, Buddy’s office completely changed the business model in Loudoun to work with local businesses.  They provide the latest information to over 3,000 businesses, giving them valuable advice and programming.
  
  
• The Economic Development Department has also worked to address the business needs of the local community.  For example, when they saw farmers were not able to get their food to customers or restaurants, they established the Loudoun Made, Loudoun Grown marketplace, a successful online e-commerce platform for farmers.
  
  
• When they saw the Loudoun County unemployment numbers spike due to COVID, they started a Loudoun-only jobs program.
  
  
• Everyone wonders when the economy will open again.  When will the consumers return to business establishments?  Consumers won’t come back until they are confident businesses are doing the right thing.  So they established Loudoun Is Ready (www.loudounisready.com) which makes sure businesses are doing the right thing by providing guidelines to keep consumers healthy.
  
  
• They have also given away $5.7 million in local grants to ensure that the business base continues to grow in Loudoun County.
  
  
• But aggressive steps still needed to be taken to help local businesses.  Between the $36 million in CARES money plus an additional $5 million that Buddy’s department lobbied for, they will be able to help support almost a thousand business.
  
  
• Buddy’s office also started the Take Loudoun Home program (www.takeloudounhomes.com) .  With this, a Loudoun County citizen orders a dinner from a restaurant, picks it up, and then posts on social media to give the establishment free advertising.  This program encourages residents to support local businesses and do their part for the community.
  
  
• And Loudoun County citizens have really stepped up: they are the shining stars through all of this.
  
  
• When COVID first hit, it was difficult to determine which businesses were essential.  What is considered critical?  People definitely have to have a place to live and the security of a home.  People are continually taking new jobs and moving into and out of the county.  Not having that would have been detrimental to the industry and residents of the county.    
  
  
• Buddy’s office is also preparing for a transition to the new normal with a strategic plan that is constantly being revised.  Operation Reboot focuses on finding previously untapped opportunities, in industries such as telehealth and health IT.
  
  
• The underlying principles of the Loudoun County economy remain very strong. The commercial tax base is almost 40% of the overall tax base—and that can be counted on going into the future.  Taxes in Loudoun County have gone down 21% over the last decade, which is tremendous. 
  
  
• Loudoun County will be able to work its way into a new normal that gives the county an opportunity to continue to build what they’ve started.
  
  
• There have been a number of game changes for the county, including both Dulles Airport and the Internet boom.  The next one is the arrival of the Silver Line Metro.  Not only is Loudoun County a great place to live with great schools and easy access to all the things you want and need, but add on top of that an new, urban environment oriented towards mixed use and easy access to both an international airport and Washington, DC.  There is so much opportunity here. In fact, Customs and Border Protection is moving 4,000 jobs into Loudoun County in late 2020—mainly because of the future metro.
  
  
• Loudoun County’s opportunities moving in to the future are endless.