Montgomery County’s elected officials said Thursday they plan to create new tax credits and “enhance the environment for entrepreneurship” to boost the county’s once-vaunted — but now lagging — biosciences industry.
Bioscience has long been a pillar of the county’s economy. Montgomery County is home to the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration and its main artery, Interstate 270, has been dubbed “DNA alley” because of the numerous public and private biotech companies that surround it.
But county business and political leaders said they county isn’t attracting new businesses at the rate it should and is losing out to competitors, both worldwide and local. Last month, rival Fairfax County announced the creation of a major genetics research institute expected to bring in more than 500 high-paying jobs.
On Thursday, County Executive Ike Leggett and other county officials held a news conference during which they were presented the recommendations of a county biotech task force and pledged to make the county a “globally recognized leader” in biosciences.
“We can’t screw this up,” said Councilman Mike Knapp, D-Germantown, a member of the task force who has been critical of Leggett’s efforts to promote the county’s biotech industry.
One of the task force’s key recommendations is to create a local tax credit for biotech companies, which officials said could be the first local-level tax credit of its kind in the nation.
Officials said they were still formulating what shape the tax credit might take but said they plan to pass county legislation creating the credit by next summer. Leggett didn’t provide details of how much the credit might cost or how the county, which is facing more a budget gap of more than $600 million, might pay for it, but added:
“The questions is, how can we not afford it.”
The task force was headed by David Mott, the former CEO of MedImmune, one of the county’s most successful biotech companies.
Mott said the strong presence of federal bioscience facilities has been a both a blessing and a curse for the county, because it is often difficult to translate their research into commercially viable products. Another of the task force’s recommendations includes promoting greater “commercialization” of work done at federal and academic research institutions.
The task force also recommends courting venture capitalists to open satellite offices in the county.
