Randolph County, Arkansas, and its county seat both saw double-digit growth in sales tax revenue in 2020, and the added jobs at the Peco Foods poultry complex in the county is being given at least some credit for that increased revenue.
Randolph County saw its sales tax revenue rise 13% in 2020 when compared to 2019, according to a report from KAIT, while the sales tax revenue in the city of Pocahontas, the county seat of Randolph County, rose 15%.
David Jansen, Randolph County judge, attributed some of those sales tax revenue increases to more people shopping locally, but he also said increased jobs in the county, which led to more residents in the county, also played a factor.
According to Northeast Arkansas Regional Intermodal Authority Executive Director, 419 new industrial jobs were added within the county in 2020, with more than 250 of those coming as a result of Peco Foods’ expansion at its complex in the county.
Even more jobs could be coming to Pocahontas and Randolph County, as Peco Foods intends to ramp up production there. On January 7, Peco Foods announced that it would close its poultry plants in Brooksville, Mississippi, and Canton, Mississippi, as well as its hatchery in Philadelphia, Mississippi. At the same time, the company announced it would shift production from those facilities to the complexes in Pocahontas, West Point, Mississippi, and Sebastopol, Mississippi.
The company said it was shifting that production as part of the company’s “strategic plan to better align with changing consumer needs and economic conditions.”
““By streamlining our operations, we can continue building a sustainable company that will support the families and communities of our team members and customers for years to come,” Peco Foods Chief Operating Officer Bill Griffith said at the time.
Peco Foods, according to the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies Database, produced 36.04 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis in 2020, a 1.2% decrease when compared to 2019 figures.
