news-record.com

RALEIGH — North Carolina should continue to put more than $1.36 million a year into marketing the semiannual furniture trade show in High Point despite the sour economy, Market Authority President Brian Casey told legislators Tuesday afternoon.

“We’re not just coming here asking for funds that don’t provide some sort of return to the state,” Casey told members of the House and Senate appropriations committees that oversee funding for nonprofits such as the market.

Supporters of the market could find money hard to come by as legislators grapple with a growing budget deficit and begin looking for places to trim.

The market is a trade show that uses 12 million square feet of showroom space in High Point. The shows bring together furniture manufacturers and retailers, designers and others who sell the products.

With the 100th anniversary of the trade show approaching this spring, Casey cited studies that showed the market has a $1.2 billion impact on the state’s economy every year.

The spring market is scheduled for April 25-30.

Other markets around the world are working to take a piece of that business. Atlanta, Casey said, just opened 1 million square feet of showroom space. But Las Vegas has become High Point’s chief rival.

Las Vegas spends $12 million a year marketing itself to travelers, Casey said, before the furniture market there makes industry-specific pitches to those in the furniture trade.

“We’re really up against a fairly powerful and significant competitor,” Casey said.

For the current year, the High Point Market Authority has a $5.85 million budget. More than $1 million of that comes from the state to support transportation programs during the market.

Another $1.36 million went toward promoting the market to potential buyers.

Legislators rewrite or adjust the state budget every year. Because of how that process works, different line items are afforded different levels of protection.

The marketing money for the furniture show is in the most perilous category, with more than $497,363 set to disappear if no action is taken. The remaining $866,250 could be a tempting place to cut for legislators trying to cobble together the budget that takes effect July 1.

Estimates say there could be a gap of $3 billion or more between the money the state expects to collect in taxes and fees and what it would have to pay to continue its current level of spending.

“One thing we know we have as a priority is maintaining jobs,” said Sen. Floyd Mc-Kissick, a Durham Democrat who oversees the appropriations subcommittee on natural and economic resources. “We can’t afford to lose businesses and jobs to places like Las Vegas.”

But McKissick said there were no guarantees, a sentiment echoed by Rep. Laura Wiley, a High Point Republican.

Despite past support for the market, she said legislative leaders have given her no guarantees on future funding.

But Wiley said that supporting the market will save jobs in the face of challenges from elsewhere.

“Now is not the time to let up,” she said.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com