Cape Business Trends newsletter July 13, 2007
How much do they earn?
There are nearly 400 people on the Cape who carry the title of chief executive. What is their median annual salary? As of last year, the answer is $123,330. The 1,210 general and operations managers identified by the state earned $75,600. A computer and information systems manager? More than $92,000.
How do these salaries compare with the same positions in the Boston area?
CEOs in that region report a median salary exceeding $152,000. An operations manager, $110,000; a computer/information systems manager, nearly $118,000.
But those folks don’t get to eat lunch on the beach or kayak daily.
Cape Business will report hundreds of management salaries later this year as part of its annual Hot Jobs edition. If you would like to share your observations about which jobs are hot and which are not, we’d love to hear from you. E-mail us at glenn@capebusiness.net.
Boomer elites
Our recent seminar, Marketing to Baby Boomers, had a major impact here at Cape Business. After presenting our findings to more than 120 business owners and managers, we decided to launch our newest publication, Cape Business Health & Wealth. It will be mailed shortly to the Cape’s 20,000 highest-valued homes, including the primary residence of second-home owners.
Health & Wealth, previously called Personal Finance, will be a quarterly. It recognizes that money alone does not define wealth, especially on Cape Cod, as baby boomers are increasingly moving here to redefine their lives by combining business, family, community, recreation and the Cape’s unique quality of life.
As one of our health consultants put it: You have planned your financial future. Now, who’s body are you spending it in?
If you would like to learn more about Health & Wealth, including our upcoming new Web site, please contact us – call (508) 385-3811 and ask for Bob or Glenn or e-mail bob@capebusiness.net.
Here’s more insight into elite boomers, the new magazine’s top target …
Their annual income, if working, averages $150,000; if retired, $100,000. Three out of four report their health is very good to excellent, compared with only 55 percent of other boomers. Their home is valued at more than $500,000 nationwide, compared with $282,000 for other boomers.
About 95 percent of boomer elites have significant savings and investments versus 75 percent for the total boomer population. What do the elite boomers want from financial professionals: “No-frills information from a trusted institution that can help guide – not determine – their decisions,” said Heather Stern, director of marketing for Focalyst, a research company that advises AARP among many other clients.
This elite group wants to feel in charge of their financial destiny.
Future of the Cape Cod Commission
The Cape Cod Commission has just filed a six-month progress report with the Barnstable County Commissioners addressing recommendations by the 21st Century Task Force aimed at reforming commission practices – in part to better balance economic development with environmental protection.
A full story on the report can be found at capebusiness.net. A copy of the actual report can be read at capecodcommission.org/taskforce.
The progress report will be discussed at a Barnstable County Commission meeting at 1 p.m. on July 18 at the Barnstable Superior Courthouse and again that day at 4 p.m. before the Assembly of Delegates.
The most compelling issues for Cape businesses include: expediting permitting; increasing building thresholds beyond 10,000 square feet without incurring expensive and lengthy reviews; and developing more predictable and consistent mitigation costs.
Insurance update
Our colleagues at Rogers & Gray Insurance Agency report that Workers’ Compensation rates are going down once again, this time by nearly 17 percent starting September 1. The commonwealth's workers' compensation rates have declined more than 60 percent from what they were in 1991 when a reform law was passed. That’s the good news. The bad? Paul Meagher, president of Workers Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau, cautions: “While this latest decrease is good news for employers, unchecked rising medical and pharmaceutical costs could erode these gains and lead to future rate inadequacy.”
Wind energy
It may be years before the Nantucket Sound wind farm issue is resolved, but expect to see wind turbines popping up on land across the Cape. The state House of Representatives has just approved siting two wind turbines in Orleans. The bill now goes to the Senate. If enacted, the legislation will allow a 2.6-acre parcel of the town’s 500-acre watershed property to be leased to a private developer for the turbines, each producing about 1.5 megawatts to power an iron and manganese water treatment facility on the site. Orleans also anticipates selling excess power to the town grid. Construction is slated to start this fall, according to David Lyttle, a partner at Ryder and Wilcox, which is helping with the project’s site planning and engineering. The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative is providing $3.7 million in renewable tax credits to cover the costs of the turbines.
Housing: Mixed signals
June was not a comforting month on the housing front. After some signs of improvement in May, numbers declined last month, according to the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds. There is too much month-to-month volatility to truly gauge the market or begin to test predictions of many local housing professionals that a rebound should begin by fall.
Mortgage activity, a harbinger of future sales, continues to slide year-to-year. Meanwhile, the median priced home on the Cape is about $30,000 cheaper today than two years ago. That’s about a 10 percent depreciation. So far this year, sales volume is down only slightly, but individual housing prices are down about 9 percent.
Any positive indicators? The median home price in June actually was up 4 percent from May. Factoring out month-to-month volatility since February, the median price has stayed essentially the same over a five-month period.
Other upward signs? Neighboring Plymouth County experienced a relatively strong June. Home sales reached a 12-month high, with 895 deeds being placed on record. The number was up to nearly 900 in June from a low of 490 in February, and while that figure includes an increased number of foreclosure deeds, the number of new foreclosure filings has fallen each of the last three months.
Still, the number of mortgages in Plymouth County through the first half of the year is down 16 percent, compared with 2006.
Cape Cod Cooperative heads east
Cape Cod Cooperative Bank is in the process of purchasing the former Sovereign Bank location on Route 39 in East Harwich. This facility will be the easternmost location for the bank, and will provide easier access for customers in the Lower and Outer Cape. Currently, Cape Cod Cooperative has locations in Sandwich, Hyannis, West Barnstable, Yarmouth and East Dennis.
The bank plans to open the new Harwich location in August.
Business confidence
The Associated Industries of Massachusetts Business Confidence Index lost three points in June to 54.2, nearly wiping out May's gain – a decline attributable in part to tax controversy, rising interest rates and energy costs, and a deteriorating housing market. “The Index is actually a point above its level of last June, but the three-month average (55.1) makes the quarter just concluded the weakest we have seen since the fourth quarter of 2003,” said Raymond Torto, co-chairman of AIM's Board of Economic Advisors.
Air travel survey
The Barnstable Municipal Airport is conducting an assessment of current and anticipated demand for air transportation services and how these needs can best be met.
The findings will provide the foundation for improvements to serve the needs of the Cape's permanent residents, visitors and businesses for improved air access, with the resultant benefits of economic development.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY. Please print, fill out and fax back as soon as possible to (202) 833-3183. Results will be kept strictly confidential, and only broad patterns will be reported in the public document.
Upcoming events
How might climate change affect the Cape's marine environment and wildlife? And what would happen to the Cape economy as a result? You may want to take advantage of a five-part free lecture series coming up in Harwich, offered by Nantucket Soundkeeper and the Whale and Dolphin Conservatory. The series begins July 18. For more details, visit the Cape Business Calendar.
Cape Business Newsletters
Keep up with the latest issues affecting your business and your life! To sign up for any of the Cape Business newsletters, click here.