Economic outlook: Despite pandemic, Bartlesville sees signs of growth

Built on the discovery of oil in 1897 that led to the founding of Phillips Petroleum Company in 1917, Bartlesville has long been touted as a city of innovation. As the home to many national and international companies, its entrepreneurial spirit seems to never waver.

By many outward indications today, one could say Bartlesville’s economy is still growing.

Sales tax collections, a sign of economic health for any community, have been around $1.8 million each month for the last six months. This was beyond expectation under any circumstance much less a pandemic.

The population has grown 4.3% since 2010 according to the U.S. Census. Prior to 2010, growth was somewhat lower: 2.83% from 2000 to 2010 and 1.27% percent from 1990 to 2000.

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Most impressive could be the unemployment rate. At 2.5%, it is the third lowest in the nation, according to the Bartlesville Chamber of Commerce. Many worry, however, that the pandemic, particularly the new strain of COVID, could be a threat to this rosy picture.

City officials believe the strength of last year’s sales tax collections stems from both people getting out more after the first wave of the pandemic and economic stimulus packages rather than actual growth in business.

Bartlesville Public Schools will be seeking approval of a $1,250 signing bonus from the school board next week for support personnel due to the pandemic, BPS spokesperson Granger Meador said.

“We have an unprecedented number of vacancies,” Meador said. “We’re facing finding staff in our support services similar with what is going on across the country.”

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Currently Bartlesville schools has 39 staff and teachers in isolation due to COVID and 100 students out.

Washington County is seeing an increase of 111.8% in COVID cases with 180 last week in comparison to 85 cases two weeks ago. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 41% of the county population is fully vaccinated with 52% of the population receiving at least one dose. Nationally, the rate for being fully vaccinated is at 63%.

“I know many businesses are looking for employees,” said Sherri Wilt, president of the Bartlesville Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Many are offering incentives to sign on or incentives just to keep their employees coming to work next week. It is a challenging time for many, especially service-type industries and specialized manufacturing jobs.”

Wilt said at a state and local level, workforce issues have to be addressed to make sure businesses can hire and retain the employees they need.

The City of Bartlesville is also offing a $3,000 signing bonus for new hire police officers and another $3,000 to the new hires after a one-year probation, but the signing bonus is not COVID related.

“We provide sign-on bonuses to certified officers to increase our ability to recruit,” said Police Chief Tracy Roles. “Hiring certified officers proves to be cost saving for the department in that the department is not out the cost of having to send a person to CLEET for 16 weeks.”

Roles pointed out that hiring officers who are already CLEET certified allows for them to be solo officers sooner which increases available manpower.

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Currently the labor force in Washington County stands at 22,698 with 438 unemployed, according to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on forecasted job growth for Washington County will not be released until late February.

Chris Batchelder, vice president for business development for the Bartlesville Development Authority, does not believe COVID will be a brake to Bartlesville’s economic growth.

“We have several promising projects in the pipeline for Bartlesville that will be bringing in jobs,” Batchelder said.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Economic outlook: Bartlesville sees signs of growth despite pandemic