Pasco: Outside forces molded economy

2002: The Year in Review

Outside forces molded economy

Last year, Pasco's business profits lagged and the jobless rate spiked, but bright spots emerged: The housing market bloomed. And big retailers arrived.

By JENNIFER GOLDBLATT, Times Staff Writer

The most powerful forces driving Pasco's economic ups and downs last year were based outside the county.

The sluggish national economy continued to drag down profits for some local manufacturers, while the crowding of Hillsborough and Pinellas propelled record growth rates in the housing market.

Many local manufacturers continued to reel from the 2001 terrorist attacks. In the first 11 months of 2002, 9,772 Pasco residents filed for unemployment. That's a 14 percent increase over the same period the previous year.

Some of those pink slips came from Fedco Systems, Paragon Marketing and Service Merchandise, which shut down local operations.

Since 45 percent of the workforce leaves the county every day to work, Pasco residents also were hurt by layoffs in surrounding counties. Flextronics in Palm Harbor and Brooksville's Thomas & Betts were just a few of the nearby companies that let Pasco residents go.

But the Pasco business news was not all bad in 2002.

Officials from SCC Soft Computer, a Palm Harbor-based software maker, said that they were considering a move to Holiday. The company has a staff of 450 and offers the kind of high-paying jobs that county leaders have long been trying to recruit. The company pays a median salary of $45,000 and hires up to 70 workers each year.

The hunger for housing, more cheap and plentiful than in surrounding counties, helped bolster the bottom lines of companies that cater to the residential real estate market. Builders and Realtors enjoyed record sales, while companies such as Keys Concrete, B.e.t.-er Mix Inc. and International Granite and Stone all made big expansion plans.

Meanwhile, retailers rushed to serve the massive numbers of people moving into Pasco.

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, opened one of its massive supercenters in Zephyrhills and made plans for similar stores in Holiday and Bayonet Point. Linens N' Things and Borders bookstore confirmed that they were seriously considering entering the Pasco market.

Hospitals also scurried to serve the county's shifting population centers. North Bay and Community hospitals made plans to move to the growing Trinity area from their New Port Richey sites. East Pasco Medical Center got the okay to build an open-heart surgery unit. The Zephyrhills hospital also cemented a partnership with University Community Hospital to build a hospital in Wesley Chapel.