Be Glad for Thy Neighbor

Separatists in Northwest Arkansas — those local-pride purveyors who would have us succeed and found a new state buoyed by the economic might of freight, chicken quarters and discounted scented candles — were miffed by Jonesboro’s recent good fortune.

On July 27, the Delta city landed a $200 million Nestlé frozen foods manufacturing plant and complementary Millard Refrigerated Services cold storage warehouse.

The deal is supposed to generate 1,000 initial jobs, maybe 3,000 in coming years. Heralded as Arkansas’ biggest manufacturing coup d’etat in the last decade, the 325,000-SF plant and 200,000-SF freezer at the Craighead County Technology Park will crank out Stouffer’s and Lean Cuisine frozen meals for the world’s largest food manufacturer.

The Nestlé plant will boast a $27 million payroll and doll out $25,000-$28,000 per worker.

Stop for a moment to consider that Fayetteville has no prayer of recruiting such a plant at present. Jonesboro’s Chamber of Commerce and city water, power and light company scrambled to start plans for a $5 million water pretreatment plant to specifically serve the Nestlé and Millard projects.

In addition to its prohibitive building ordinances, Fayetteville’s water treatment facilities are at near capacity now with no solution in site. It’s to the point where Fayetteville could have to start turning residential and commercial developments away or risk setting itself afloat.

Add in a Benton and Washington county unemployment rate that’s slightly south of 3 percent, and the whole area probably didn’t have much of a chance. Craighhead County’s unemployment rate is only 3.6 percent, but neighbors Jackson and Mississippi counties are at 6.9 and 12.6, respectively.

Astute leaders in this part of the world realize that a win for Jonesboro — or Dumas or Smackover or Ashdown — is a win for Northwest Arkansas. Without having to support Nestlé with infrastructure, this area will benefit from the state taxes and new prosperity brought by the Swiss company.

The avarice crowd should rejoice that another quadrant of Arkansas actually has an economic boom to contribute for a change. And maybe, the next time it’s this area’s turn to get state funding for a street or road, we won’t get bumped to the back of the line because of our supposed gold-paved boulevards.