Raise money for the PAC: Annual Chili Cook Off and Oyster Roast

This year the Annual Chili Cook Off and Oyster Roast will benefit the S.C. Builders PAC. All proceeds from the event will go to the PAC and support your HBA's government affairs program.

What: Chili Cook Off and Oyster Roast

PAC Fundraiser

When: Thursday, September 8, 5:30 p.m.

Where: Atrium, Woodside Conference Center, TD Convention Center

Event Hosts: GBS Building Supply, Clark's Services, Dillard-Jones Builders, Gallivan White & Boyd

To Register at HBAofGreenville.com, click here.

About the Chili Cook Off

The Annual Chili Cook Off is anticipated by members all year. HBA members and friends compete for the best chili, enjoy steamed oysters, an assortment of sides and desserts, and adult beverages.

The chili will be judged by attendees to the event for the winner of the coveted "People's Choice Award" for the best chili. Participants "purchase" votes on their favorite chili for $1 per vote, and all of the money will benefit the PAC. As they say in Chicago, vote early and often!

New this year will be the "Top Hot" award, judged by one of our local elected officials.

Elected officials from around the Upstate have been invited to attend.

First Annual Corn Hole Tournament

Also new this year will be the first annual Corn Hole Tournament. You know the game: toss a corn bag from 27 feet away into a small hole. Teams will enter to earn the top prize: The Corny! All entry fees will benefit the PAC.

Event Hosts and Presenters

Event Hosts and Presenters make it happen. Of course you can buy a ticket and attend. But consider doing more. Everything benefits the PAC.

Event Host: $250 includes 3 tickets to the event

Event Presenter: $500 includes 10 tickets to the event

You also can support the PAC by contributing a door prize.

Support South Carolina Builders PAC, have a good time networking and socializing with your fellow members, enjoy good food and drink, and judge the chili contest. That sounds to us like the perfect way to enjoy a Thursday evening in the Upstate!

HBA of Greenville honors its Partners

Your HBA of Greenville honored its 2010 Partners yesterday at a luncheon at Hubbell Lighting. Partners help make the association's programs and events possible. We call them Partners because they are more than just sponsors, our Partners work with your HBA to support our programs financially and the association works with our Partners to promote their businesses and their products and services.

Click here to read information about the Partner's Club and download information about participation.

Honored yesterday were the members of the 2010 HBA Partners Club:

President's Circle:

• Greenville News
• BI-LO

Director's Circle:

• Gallivan White & Boyd
• Piedmont Natural Gas
• Lowe's

The Partners Club members support multiple programs and events and provide substantial resources to the association that help make our core mission, including government affairs, education, and community involvement possible. Partners also are the beneficiary of additional support from the HBA including special position of their company names and logos on association communication and its website, www.HBAofGreenville.com.

Also honored were the HBA Event Partners:

• The Original Gutter Guardian
• Meridian Homes
• Harold Moore Builder
• First Choice Custom Homes
• Priority One Security
• Builders First Source
• New Home Star
• Homes & Land of the Upstate
• Gateway Supply Company
• Hardie Plank
• Addison Homes
• Jeff Lynch Appliance
• J. Freeman and Associates
• Dillard-Jones Builders
• Freewood Builders
• All-Dry Basement Systems
• Palmetto Exterminators, Inc.
• Donald Gardner Architects, Inc.
• Hollison Custom Homes
• Quinn-Satterfield
• Home Team Pest Defense
• Greater Greenville Association of REALTORS®
• Homeowners Mortgage
• Capital Bank
• Clark's Services
• Yoder’s Building Supply
• Tucker Materials
• GBS Building Supply
• The Great Outdoors, Inc.
• Advanced Renovations
• Ashmore Brothers
• ProBuild
• Gabriel Builders, Inc.
• Sadler Company, Inc., of Greenville

Partnership opportunities and the 2012 Partnership Program also were released at the event. Click here for details about the Partner's Club at www.HBAofGreenville.com.

Spartanburg HBA Table Top Night open to HBA of Greenville members

The HBA of Greater Spartanburg has invited members of the HBA of Greenville to participate in their Table Top Night.

What: Spartanburg Table Top Night

When: Monday, August 22

5:15 p.m. preview for Builders Only

6 p.m. for all attendees

Where: Summit Pointe Conference & Events Center

Cost: Free to licensed South Carolina Builders, Associate members and guests are $20

Sponsors: ProBuild and STOCK Building Supply

The event features 50 vendor tables showcasing their latest products. There will be plenty of door prizes, and one lucky builder will walk away with $250 in CASH just for attending! Dinner and a cash bar will be provided.

Deadline to RSVP is August 18. Call 864-583-5471 to make your reservation.

Garden&Gun: Sweet Greenville, the hippest little city in South Carolina

Garden&Gun features a city portrait of Greenville in its August/September issue. By Ashley Warlick, the article calls Greenville "the hippest little city in South Carolina." The portrait also features vignets on where to eat and drink.

Read the portrait of Greenville in Garden&Gun by clicking here.

Foreclosures in the Upstate drop nearly 21 percent

Foreclosures in the Greenville MSA (Greenville-Mauldin-Easley) dropped 20.8 percent in July compared to the same month in 2010.

Read the entire report in the Greenville News by clicking here.

South Carolina ranked 3 for economic potential by magazine

Business Facilities magazine ranked South Carolina third in the nation for economic growth potential, and fifth for overall business climate. Virginia and Louisiana topped the list.

Read the entire report at GSA Business by clicking here.

ROAR: South Carolina's tax code is interfering with job creation

On Tuesday, economists from states all across the country gathered at Coastal Carolina University in Conway to discuss the effects of South Carolina's archaic and counterproductive tax code at their annual economic growth summit. "Unemployed workers can add the South Carolina tax code to the list of reasons that they cannot find work..." begins the August 9 article by Adva Saldinger in the Myrtle Beach Sun News.

Read the article in the Sun News by clicking here.

Saldinger reports that, according to the economists, South Carolina's tax system is actually preventing new business creation and company expansion. In fact, the tax code is preventing job creation across the South Carolina. Economists pointed to the numerous special tax exemptions on the books and the need for comprehensive tax reform. According to ROAR, a group advocating for comprehensive tax reform, South Carolina exempts more sales tax than it collects.

Dr. Russell Sobel, an economics professor at West Virginia University, said, "When the government gives out too much stuff there's too many people at the table." Dr. Rob Salvino, Coastal Carolina, further argued that many companies either leave or never come to South Carolina "because they are not at the level to manipulate that process."

According to ROAR, our state is not broke, our tax system is.

You can read more about ROAR's take on our state's tax system by clicking here.

ROAR's Dr. Michael W. Fanning has spoken recently in Greenville.