J. Chad McLamb, CPA,
Deputy County Manager – Director of Finance
Source
The County was incorporated in 1746 and was formed largely from Craven County. Located in the mid-central section of the State and the western segment of the coastal plains region, the County contains approximately 795 square miles.
The County is the fastest growing county in the State according to the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census 2020 census data. In particular, the townships along the Johnston County/Wake County line have experienced significant growth over the past 20 to 30 years. As the population expands and transportation networks improve, the County is experiencing growth further east into central areas of the County. A significant factor to such growth is the County’s proximity to the Research Triangle Park (“RTP”) and to the City of Raleigh, the State’s capital and the major urban center of the State’s Coastal Plains region where urban development is heavily concentrated. The County offers diversified housing options which, when coupled with the job growth of the region, favorably positions the County to capitalize upon new and expanding commercial and industrial opportunities.
The County is uniquely positioned within the geographic center of the State. The Town of Smithfield, the County seat, and the Town of Benson are located midway along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and benefit from the intersection of transcontinental Interstate 40 and Interstate 95. In addition, the Town of Selma offers a railhead at which the Norfolk-Southern Railroad intersects the CSX mainline.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS APPROVE AMENDMENT IN SUPPORT OF NOVO NORDISK’S
HISTORY-MAKING EXPANSION
Danish Life Sciences Leader Will Invest $4 Billion at its Clayton Campus, Create 1,000 Jobs
Johnston County, N.C. – June 24, 2024. The Johnston County Board of Commissioners voted this morning to approve an amended package of performance-based economic development incentives that will support a major expansion at Novo Nordisk’s [NYSE: NVO] bio- manufacturing campus in Clayton. Several hours later, top officials of the Denmark-based company announced it will invest US$4.1 billion in a new 1.4 million-sq.-ft. (130,064-sq.-m) facility here in a move that will create 1,000 new jobs.
“Novo Nordisk has been among Johnston County’s largest private employers since arriving three decades ago,” County Commission Chairman Butch Lawter said. “There’s no over-stating this company’s importance as an economic and fiscal driver here. They continue to bring significant capital investment and high-wage job opportunities. They bring additional civic and community engagement. They bring new ideas, new people, and new energy here. And they are among our closest and most consistent partners when it comes to educational quality and workforce readiness.”
Commissioners recognized the need to support growing industries in order to create homegrown career opportunities for Johnston County residents. This morning’s vote amended a pledge of performance-based incentives initially approved in September 2022 as part of the company’s 12-year growth horizon. Novo Nordisk’s presence in the county dates to the mid 1990s and has played a key role in transforming a local economy long dependent on tobacco and other agricultural commodities. The company’s commitment to its sprawling Clayton campus, along with the equally sizable presence of Spanish biomanufacturer Grifols nearby, helps account for Johnston County’s status as North Carolina’s fastest growing county as of the 2020 U.S. Census.
“Back in 2022, we had an opportunity to compete with locations all over the world for a major expansion that we hoped would be located here in North Carolina,” Shaylah Nunn Jones, Director of Public Affairs & Communications at Novo Nordisk, told commissioners. “Your board showed up, and it was for that reason that we sent a strong message to Denmark that Johnston County was open to business, that the United States and North Carolina and Johnston County were willing and able to support Novo Nordisk’s growth and expansion.”
The company’s expansion will take place on a 56-acre (22.7-hectare) parcel adjacent to its current site. The new facility will total four times the size of Novo Nordisk’s original facility at 3612 Powhatan Road in Clayton, according to Niels Laurbjerg Nielsen, the company’s Corporate Vice President, who unveiled specifics at a standing-room-only gathering this afternoon that included U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, N.C. Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins and Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark’s Ambassador to the United States. The project comes not long after the completion of the company’s $2 billion Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) facility announced in August 2015, which made history that year as North Carolina’s most capital-rich corporate facility.
Chris Johnson, director of the County’s Office of Economic Development, says today’s announcement also makes history. “Because of the leadership of our county commissioners over the last 20 years, Johnston County will again be a part of the single largest life sciences manufacturing investment in the State of North Carolina, and quite possibly the largest in the U.S.,” Johnson said.
The County’s partnership with Novo Nordisk has resulted in innovations in education and workforce readiness. The most visible symbol of this collaboration is the Johnston County Workforce Development Center, a 30,000-sq.-ft. (2,787-sq.-m) training facility constructed on land donated to the County by Novo Nordisk in the early 2000s. The center, which underwent extensive renovations in 2019, provides simulated production experience to newly hired biomanufacturing workers on equipment provided by Novo Nordisk and Grifols. Talks are currently underway to dramatically expand the facility to accommodate anticipated needs. More recently, the Johnston County Commissioners Promise Program bridges the tuition gap for Pell Grant recipients among Johnston County high school seniors attending Johnston Community College (JCC). “And just this past year, we’ve implemented the BioWorks certification curriculum in all Johnston County public high schools. This credential teaches the fundamentals of working as a process technician in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals or chemical engineering facilities.”
An economic impact analysis by Dr. Michael Walden in the fall of 2022 found that construction alone of Novo Nordisk’s facility upgrades will spark millions of dollars in increases to the gross domestic product (GDP). Once operational, state, county and municipal governments will see millions in new tax revenues annually from the expansion, according to Dr. Walden, who is Professor Emeritus of Economics at North Carolina State University.
“Our office has always lived by the motto that nothing empowers a person more than a good- paying job with a living wage,” Johnson told commissioners. “Your leadership, vision and collaboration give our citizens that personal empowerment right here in Johnston County.”
The Johnston County Economic Development Office (JCEDO) facilitates value-added interaction between government, education, and the private sector in encouraging and promoting job creation and economic investment in Johnston County. A unit of county government, JCEDO collaborates with local, regional, and statewide partners and allies in providing confidential location assistance to businesses and technical support to the county’s 11 municipalities. Its menu of services includes customized digital mapping, labor and wage analysis, site readiness assistance and incentive packaging. For additional information, visit www.GrowWithJoCo.com
Wisconsin-based Scot Industries Inc., a leading North American supplier of specialty tubing products, plans to invest at least $40 million in a new manufacturing plant in Johnston County. The privately held company selected approximately 77 acres in Four Oaks near the convergence of I-95, US 301 and US 701. Its operations here will employ a 21-person workforce.
Earlier today, the Johnston County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a nearly $1.2 million Economic Development Investment Grant, a performance-based incentive payable over five to seven years. County Commission Chairman R.S. “Butch” Lawter, Jr. says the selection by Scot Industries “kicks off 2024 on a winning note.” The company’s Johnston County facility will be its 12th location in the U.S. and Canada. “This move creates good-paying jobs, brings another prestigious name to our industrial directory and boosts the county’s economic diversification,” Lawter says.
Four Oaks town leaders will consider a similar package of municipal incentives for the project later this month. Scot Industries also will receive free customized training from Johnston Community College, in addition to about $46,000 in workforce development grants from the state’s Division of Workforce Solutions.
Scot Industries, founded in Milwaukee in 1949, produces tubing, pipe, chrome rods and other specialty products for the hydraulic and pneumatic cylinder markets, as well as the oil industry. Company officials reviewed locations in Virginia and South Carolina before selecting Johnston County. Its operations here will serve markets across the southeastern U.S. “Without a doubt, the Economic Development Incentive Grant offered by Johnston County played a tremendous role in selecting the site in Four Oaks for future investment and job creation,” says Robby Anderson, plant manager based at Scot’s corporate headquarters in Muscoda, Wisc. “We greatly appreciate the pro-
business approach and the partnership with our company, and we look forward to calling Johnston County home.”
“Project Red River,” like all projects considered for Johnston County incentives, underwent an extensive economic impact analysis. A study by Dr. Michael Walden, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at North Carolina State University, found that Scot Industries’ new operations will add nearly $71 million to Johnston County’s
GDP each year. Its fiscal impact will also be significant, Dr. Walden found, generating nearly $675,000 in new county and municipal tax revenues annually. Salaries there will average over $60,000 per year, with new positions including sales personnel, machine operators, warehouse workers and management staff.
“Our objective has always been to drive job-creation and economic investment to every part of the county,” says Randy Jones, chairman of the 14-member Johnston County Economic Development Advisory Board. The appointed panel consists of business, civic and community leaders from the county’s 11 municipal governments. “This project
keeps us moving toward that crucial goal, and we are grateful to our state and municipal partners for their work in bringing this successful international manufacturer to Johnston County. My thanks also go out to our terrific team at Johnston County’s Office of Economic Development and our internal county government partners, whose
collaboration made this project successful,” says Jones, a resident of Pine Level.
Chris Johnson, director of the Johnston County Economic Development Office, says the arrival of Scot Industries is evidence the county’s workforce, highway infrastructure and business-focused leadership continue to consistently put Johnston County on the short list of leading mid-Atlantic manufacturing destinations. “Our value proposition hasn’t changed,” Johnson says. “We still offer a formidable range of industrial assets in a competitive cost structure.”
The Johnston County Economic Development Office (JCEDO) facilitates value-added interaction between government, education and the private sector in encouraging and promoting job creation and economic investment in Johnston County. A unit of county government, JCEDO collaborates with local, regional and statewide partners and allies in providing confidential location assistance to businesses and technical support to the county’s 11 municipalities. Its menu of services includes customized digital mapping, labor and wage analysis, site readiness assistance and incentive packaging. For additional information, visit www.GrowWithJoCo.com
(Chicago, Illinois)—Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to County of Johnston for its annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022. The report has been judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive "spirit of full disclosure" to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.
The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.
Deputy County Manager – Director of Finance
Deputy Finance Director – Operations