The Union County Chamber of Commerce just turned in its annual scorecard to Marysville City Council.

If the county were a golfer, it was lights out on the front nine (business and industrial growth) and Bogey City on the back (residential growth).

“It was really about break even,” said Jason Stanford, business development manager for the chamber. “Capital expenditures for business and industrial expansion went from a little over $1 million in 2010 to more than $3.7 million in 2011.”

On the downside, construction of new single-family units “was down to 101 last year, the lowest it’s been in any year going back to 1999.”

Of course, 1999 through 2005 were county boom years: 497 new homes were built in the first year of that era and 412 in the last. The last six years have witnessed a steady decline, from 268 units in 2006 to 101 last year.

“We look out and see residential development down across the country,” Stanford said, “and so we’re not as concerned with that number (101) as we would be if the decline was just in Union County.”

In any case, Stanford said, the respite from such heady residential growth allowed “everyone to take a step back, catch our breath and decide how best to accommodate growth when it picks up again in the future. It was something of a blessing in disguise.”

The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) has estimated that Union County will grow from its current population of approximately 53,000 to more than 80,000 by the year 2030.

The scorecard also calculates the number of jobs created (259) and retained (190) through the chamber’s partnerships with business and industry. Those numbers are up significantly from 2010 when only 49 jobs were created and 151 retained through similar partnerships.

“Any time we work with a company through our community retention and expansion (CRE) program, we count that as a partnership,” Stanford said. “The chamber, the county commissioners, Marysville and the villages all are involved in the program.”

CRE is crucial to the county, Stanford said, “because while everyone wants to land that big company that’s going to bring 1,000 jobs with it, still 80 percent of all growth comes from existing companies. We can’t forget the ones who are already here, no matter how large or how small.”

Asked which number on the scorecard most impressed him, Stanford said it was the median income for county residents.

“That really did jump out at me,” he said. “In 2007, just before the recession, our median income was a little over $54,000. It dipped in the next couple of years to $53,000 and then as low as $52,000. I was encouraged to see that figure back up above $54,000 for 2011.”

The scorecard is a “snapshot” of significant economic activity in Union County, Stanford said, released every year since 2007 a few months before the chamber releases its annual report in April.