EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was written in response to reader-submitted questions through Open Source, a platform where readers can ask Richland Source’s newsroom to investigate a question.

MANSFIELD — After seeing stories about other cities and states paying people to move there, one Richland Source reader had a question: Has Richland County, specifically Mansfield, ever considered paying people to move here?

“Though I can’t imagine there’s a lot of extra room in the budget for a program like that. Are there other incentives the city could offer to entice transplants?” asked reader Sam Belsterling.

The answer is “yes,” according to Richland Community Development Group’s economic development director Barrett Thomas.

“We’ve seen those programs at other places and kicked the idea around. We’ve thought, is there value in this? Playing in the same space?” Thomas said. “So far the answer’s been no for a couple of reasons.”

The most limiting factor: Money.

“No one’s ponied up a giant sack of cash to hand out,” Thomas said.

As a result, the idea hasn’t gotten any further than its infant stages. But he believes even if it had the funding, such a program would still be “a little tricky, at the least” to implement.

He’s seen several variations of the incentives. He’s noticed that some places will subsidize rent or cover relocation costs. Other locations target millennials by offering to pay college debt. Still others will offer incentives to only remote workers, which works similarly to Thomas’s business attraction process on a microscale.

“This is like Gorman-Rupp, or any manufacturing. They could be anywhere, but they’re bringing dollars here and plopping them inside the community,” Thomas said.

The purpose, he explained, is to bring people and the money they’ll undoubtedly spend into “your community” instead of another one.

Still, he imagines, this would create at least some friction with current Richland County residents.  

“You’re creating an incentive for people who don’t live here, and this is not for those already here,” he said.

Residents might ask, “Why not me? I’ve been here my whole life.”

Thomas hears similar comments when offering incentives to attract new businesses to Richland County, and so he works with existing businesses to offer retention and expansion incentives, too.

Further, Thomas wonders what impression such a program would give to residents and those considering Mansfield as a future home.  

“Once you start paying people, it’d start changing the dynamics. There’s something about paying to live here that sends a different message,” he said.

A Declining Population

Richland County needs people. It’s losing population and has labor shortages, as do other places across the country, Thomas notes.

The county’s estimated population was 120,589 in July 2017, down from 124,476 in April 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“And the trend is probably slowing down, but Richland County isn’t growing and we need to do something to sort that out,” Thomas said.

Ideally, community development projects could spark population growth.

“If you make Richland County a great place to live, and people want to move here because obviously it’s a fantastic place and you should be here, then people move here on their own and no one has a problem with it,” he said. “And the people who live here are happy because they have a great place to live, and they didn’t have to move anywhere.”

He highlighted the Mansfield Rising plan and its many suggested projects as ways to make Mansfield a better place to live, work and gather.

“I want it to work the way it’s supposed to, not to squeeze the system to artificially get what we want,” Thomas said. “I want this to be a place that is so amazing that people want to move here, and I want that to happen on its own, not by forcing it, because I think that’s a better way.

“Plus, I live here, so I’d rather see our community be a better place.”

Are there other incentives the city could offer to entice transplants?

Thomas described a potential “community welcome party.”

“Instead of paying people to move here, we could pay for great marketing and recruiting events,” he said, referencing a weekend-long event called Stay-to-Stay Vermont.

The “exploratory vacations” help visitors learn about moving to Vermont by introducing them to employers, realtors, community leaders and potential neighbors.

There is no cost to attend the networking receptions, but participants are responsible for their own lodging and transportation.

RCDG has done something similar on a smaller scale through its annual Re-Think Richland, a Thanksgiving Eve event that allows those visiting family in Richland County to network with local employers and community leaders at Relax, It’s Just Coffee.

The event, first held in November 2017, was modeled off ReThink West Michigan, a recruiting event in Grand Rapids, Michigan that asks people to “take another look” at their hometown.

“If people want to move home, why are there barriers for them to get home?” said Cindy Brown, executive director of Hello West Michigan, the organization that holds ReThink West Michigan in 2017. “We try to get people connected and remove the barriers.”

Will Richland County consider paying people to move here?

One question remains, if the program had funding would Richland County pay people to move here?

“If we had an excellent plan for it, maybe,” Thomas said. “But we don’t. We have hang-ups that we don’t have good solutions for.” 

For now, he’d rather the county focus on long-term solutions.

“Paying people to move here is a short-term solution. It’s not something any of these places are going to sustain for 20 years,” Thomas said. “It really only works if the people end up falling in love with the place and living there the rest of their lives.

“If they stay there for two years and leave, you’ve lost money.”

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