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Politics & Government

Bowie Offering Taxpayer Money to Entice Businesses to Move Here

Bowie will be the first in the state with this type of economic incentive fund to encourage job and business growth.

Bowie’s government has authorized an incentive fund to motivate businesses to expand or move into the city and create more jobs, making Bowie the first city in Maryland to use taxpayer money to help spark a local economy.

After several months of study, the city council unanimously voted Monday to create the Bowie Economic Development Incentive Fund, which council members indicated earlier could eventually total several hundred thousand dollars.

“This clearly continues efforts to expand the city’s tax base and provide additional diversity not only in commerce but jobs as well,” said Bowie Mayor G. Frederick Robinson.

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John H. King, city economic development director, said the concept is to leverage the city’s money by encouraging the county and the state to match the city’s funds when a project arises.

While the state and county have economic incentive funds, King told the council no other Maryland city has done this before. King also said he could not locate a city of Bowie’s size in the nation taking this type of step. “People will be looking at us as a model program,” he said later.

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Under the fund’s rules, money would be allocated to a company either as an outright grant, a loan or a conditional loan that would convert into a grant if the business met certain benchmarks.  Those include creating new jobs and having a minimum 100 employees.

The council did not authorize a specific amount for the effort. Council member Dennis Brady said a permanent budget amount for the fund could be authorized next year. For now, potential projects can be funded on an ad-hoc basis by the City Council as interested businesses are found.

 In the other economic/business news, the Council Monday night:

  • Approved a new sign theme submitted by the developer St. John Properties for the 466-acre Melford site at Routes 50 and 3/301. A large vertical sign with the name “Melford” will be visible on Route 50. The site was formerly known solely as the University of Maryland Science and Technology Center. Council members said they hope the new signs will help brand the site as expanding way beyond the tech center to include three Marriott hotels and many other businesses.
  • Granted technical zoning approvals so a new Kia dealership will be built just outside city limits and next to the next to the Toyota of Bowie near the intersection of Routes 50 and 301. It is expected the dealership will open next summer.
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