Flagler County’s economy has taken several hits over the years since the collapse of the housing boom a decade ago. Once the fastest-growing county in the country, Flagler became the poster child for the housing crisis after the sub-prime loan debacle and near-collapse of the financial system put the local economy underwater.
While things have improved in the 10 years since and technically the Great Recession ended nine years ago, there is still a fine line between economic success and potential failure. Flagler County may have crossed that line this week after Mettawa, Illinois-based Brunswick Corp. announced plans to close the Sea Ray Boats plant in the county, displacing nearly 500 workers.
But the economic landscape in 2018 in Flagler County is vastly different from what it was in 2008.
Back then, residential home construction was not only the foundation of the local economy, it was pretty much all there was. After a series of economic summits in 2011, county officials created the Flagler County Department of Economic Opportunity, charged with diversifying the local economy and creating job opportunities for residents displaced by the Great Recession.
In that sense, the county is in a better position to absorb the job losses created by the closing of the Sea Ray facility and has the tools, talent and partnerships to weather the coming economic storm.
One of the legacies of the financial crisis was the creation of so-called “stress tests” for systemically important financial services companies. Under the auspices of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the tests are designed to see how a financial institution will fare under dire economic circumstances concocted by federal regulators.
In a way, the closing of the Sea Ray plant is Flagler County’s stress test.
With the impending job losses expected to have a ripple effect on the local economy, the county economic development department, along with local and regional partners including CareerSource Flagler Volusia and Enterprise Florida, is taking a proactive role in working with displaced workers and filling the economic hole left by Sea Ray’s departure.
The success or failure of the effort will go a long way toward determining how far Flagler has come economically and how far it still needs to go.