Solano County’s economy has moved from recovery into expansion, according to an annual progress report on the county.
“We have now moved beyond recovery and are in what we think, or what economists call economic expansion,” Robert Eyler, principal of Economic Forensics and Analytics, said in presenting his 2014 Index of Economic and Community Progress earlier this year.
Eyler cautioned, however, not to expect an expansion like recent ones.
“The expansion won’t necessarily look like the expansions we saw in the ’90s or in the past decade, but it’s an expansion nonetheless,” he said.
The county’s population growth rate remains modest at 1 percent over 2014 with all signs pointing to an economy that continues to improve slowly, including employment, housing and personal income statistics, according to County Administrator Birgitta E. Corsello.
Data from the California Employment Development Department indicates unemployment figures continue to drop from a high of more than 12 percent in 2011 to 5.9 percent in May and June. The Solano figure was just below a rate of 6.2 percent for the state and 5.5 percent for the nation in June.
Although Solano County ranks as the fourth lowest in per capita income when compared to benchmark counties, its growth rate in per capita income outpaced the state, Corsello said.
Travis Air Force Base continues to have the biggest impact in Solano County, with 13,400 employees and an estimated annual economic impact of $1.6 billion, according to the most recently released figures.
Commercial construction, meanwhile, continues to expand in the county.
Buzz Oates Construction last year began building a 597,896-square-foot warehouse for Pacific Cycle’s West Coast distribution center on Cessna Drive in the Vacaville Business Park. In addition, Pacific Cycle, which is a top seller of several well-known bicycle brands, is to retain one of its existing warehouses of 227,430 square feet at 2031 Cessna Drive.
Buzz Oates also completed a 473,136-square-foot warehouse for Saxco International on Cordelia Road in Fairfield late last year and is constructing a 177,000-square-foot warehouse for Saxco as an addition to the Solano Logistics Center on Cordelia Road.
Icon Aircraft is relocating from Southern California to the Nut Tree Airport in Vacaville to manufacture its lightweight sport planes. It has up to 1,400 advance orders for its planes and when at full operation is expected to employ close to 500 people. Icon plans to transition serial production to its new 140,000-square-foot Vacaville facility in September, according to the latest information from the company.
Agriculture in Solano County continues to grow, with a record year in 2014 representing an 8 percent increase from the previous year. Agricultural production topped $378.65 million – up $30.43 million from 2013, according to the 2014 Solano County Crop and Livestock Report.
Solano’s agriculture has experienced overall growth for more than a decade, with increases in production in 10 of the past 13 years. The overall crop value has grown by nearly $180 million since 2002 when it was $199.48 million. The largest increase from one year to the next during that span was 2012, when the value jumped 17.4 percent.
The county’s top five crops were shuffled in their ranking for 2014, with tomatoes moving from fifth to first in total value at just more than $46 million. Tomatoes were also the most valuable crop in the county in 2009 and 2010 and have been among the top five crops each year for a decade.
Reach Kevin W. Green at 427-6974 or [email protected].
