Maryland creates online database of business incentives
By Steven Overly,
Maryland’s business and economic development arm has begun to publish an online database of the financial incentives that the state provides to companies when they promise to create jobs, open new facilities or otherwise contribute to the economy.
The database is one of several Web-based tools that the agency has created of late as it aims to increase transparency, in part because a government watchdog criticized its disclosure practices, said Andrea Vernot, assistant secretary for marketing and communications.
District-based Good Jobs First, a nonpartisan group that pushes for corporate and government accountability, ranked Maryland 18th in the country for its online disclosure of economic development subsidies in a report released in December 2010. Virginia placed 25th in that study and the District shared last place with 13 others.
So earlier this month, the state released the Maryland Finance Tracker, which provides an annually updated list of the monetary perks given to companies. Users can sort the data by year, company location or incentive program.
“They’ve been doing their best to amp up what they can,” said Thomas Cafcas, a research analyst with Good Jobs First. “The database isn’t perfect, but it’s certainly a work in progress and they should be lauded for their efforts because it’s certainly come a long way for taxpayer transparency.”
Jim Henry, program director in the office of finance programs, said the information was already available in a series of annual reports to the General Assembly that the public can access online. But never has it all existed in one place and in a format that’s easy to use, he said.
“We fully recognize it’s going to need to be tweaked a little bit to be more user friendly,” Henry said. “We don’t think this is the end all be all as it exists right now, but we think this is a very good initial effort.”
The state agency also created an interactive map, called the MDbizMap, that plots “business assets and resources,” such as top employers, colleges, airports, incentive zones and companies that receive job creation tax credits.
The initial map contains 21 categories of information with plans to add several dozen others over time, Vernot said, including information about taxes, demographics and utilities. It consolidates many previous maps into one, she said.
Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) started Maryland Made Easy in January of last year to make the state more friendly to businesses, including initiatives that better explain state regulations, increase communication and simplify bureaucratic processes, such as permitting.
Officials said they plan to release two more Web tools later this year: a searchable database of available commercial real estate, including offices, labs and start-up incubators, as well as an online form for business registration.
“Technology is getting so democratized,” Vernot said. “Rather than having to build these big, back-end databases, we can lease programs and just adapt them for our own uses.”
2011 recipients
Below is a list of companies that received financial incentives from Maryland’s Department of Business and Economic Development in 2011, according to the agency’s Maryland Finance Tracker. Companies that show $0 in all three columns were approved by the department for a tax credit, the size of which is later determined by the Office of the Comptroller. The acronyms indicate the source of the funds, including the Maryland Industrial Development Financing Authority (MIDFA), Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority (MSBDFA) and the Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority and Fund (MEDAAF).
| Recipient | City | Program | Approved loan amount | Loan guarantee amount | Amount disbursed |
Promised jobs | Promised trainees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3CLogic | Rockville | Enterprise Investment Fund | $100,000 | $0 | $100,000 | 25 | 0 |
| Advanced BioNutrition | Columbia | Enterprise Investment Fund | 100,000 | 0 | 100,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Advanced BioNutrition | Columbia | Enterprise Investment Fund | 19,612 | 0 | 19,612 | 0 | 0 |
| AJ&R Petroleum | Landover | MIDFA-Small Business | 400,000 | 100,000 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Akonni Biosystems | Frederick | Enterprise Investment Fund | 100,000 | 0 | 100,000 | 0 | 0 |
| All Pro Glass | Hyattsville | MSBDFA Contract Financing Direct | 200,000 | 0 | 71,622 | 10 | 0 |
| All Pro Glass | Hyattsville | MSBDFA Surety Bond Direct | 400,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ausley Associates | Lexington Park | Partnership for Workforce Quality | 6,750 | 0 | 6,750 | 54 | 15 |
| Auto Glass Warehouse | Hyattsville | MSBDFA Guaranty Fund | 250,000 | 125,000 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| BoxTone | Columbia | Partnership for Workforce Quality | 24,000 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 25 |
| Business Integra | Greenbelt | Partnership for Workforce Quality | 18,750 | 0 | 18,131.49 | 120 | 11 |
| BWI Technology Park Phase II | Linthicum | MEDAAF-5 Brownfield Conditional Grant | 300,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chesapeake Perl | Savage | Enterprise Investment Fund | 800 | 0 | 800 | 0 | 0 |
| Digital Receiver Technology | Germantown | Job Creation Tax Credit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58 | N/A |
| DynPort Vaccine Co. | Frederick | Partnership for Workforce Quality | 17,279 | 0 | 5,612.10 | 111 | 21 |
| Environmental Engineering & Construction | Landover | MSBDFA Surety Bond Direct | 1,500,000 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Family Medical Center | Mount Airy | MIDFA-Small Business | 80,000 | 40,000 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| G&D Construction | Lanham | MSBDFA Guaranty Fund | 25,000 | 12,500 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| Gold Lasso | Gaithersburg | Enterprise Investment Fund | 100,000 | 0 | 50,000 | 30 | 0 |
| Gregg Appliances | Brandywine | Job Creation Tax Credit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65 | N/A |
| Homestead Gardens | Davidsonville, Severna Park | MIDFA Conventional Insurance | 5,500,000 | 2,499,970 | 0 | 130 | 0 |
| Howard County Economic Development Authority | Columbia | MEDAAF-3 Conditional Grant | 25,000 | 0 | 19,610.12 | 0 | 0 |
| Integral Systems | Columbia | Job Creation Tax Credit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
| International Union of Painters & Allied Trades | Hanover | MEDAAF-2 Conditional Loan | 212,500 | 0 | 212,500 | 105 | 0 |
| Japan Plus | Annapolis | MSBDFA Guaranty Fund | 1,840,000 | 504,160 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Japan Plus Four | Annapolis | MSBDFA Guaranty Fund | 1,860,000 | 509,640 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Life Technologies Corp. | Frederick | MEDAAF-2 Conditional Grant | 500,000 | 0 | 500,000 | 416 | 0 |
| Life Technologies Corp. | Frederick | Job Creation Tax Credit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Maryland World Class Consortia | Multiple locations | Partnership for Workforce Quality | 64,500 | 0 | 20,500 | 0 | 40 |
| MECAG (Mobern Lighting Co.) | Laurel | MIDFA-Small Business | 100,000 | 45,000 | 0 | 43 | 0 |
| MedAssurant | Bowie | Partnership for Workforce Quality | 20,000 | 0 | 14,975 | 139 | 31 |
| Neogenix Oncology | Rockville | Partnership for Workforce Quality | 7,373 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 3 |
| Neogenix Oncology | Rockville | Partnership for Workforce Quality | 2,202.50 | 0 | 2,202.50 | 10 | 3 |
| Optoro | Lanham | Enterprise Investment Fund | 150,000 | 0 | 150,000 | 63 | 0 |
| Prince George's County Economic Development Corp. |
Capitol Heights | MEDAAF-3 Conditional Grant | 62,500 | 0 | 62,500 | 0 | 0 |
| Rainmakers Government Solutions | Glenelg | Military/Disabled Veterans | 50,000 | 0 | 50,000 | 20 | 0 |
| Raytheon-Intelligence & Information Systems | Linthicum | Partnership for Workforce Quality | 20,000 | 0 | 9,137.50 | 1,200 | 51 |
| RWH Associates | Oxon Hill | MSBDFA Contract Financing Direct | 50,000 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| SNS Construction | Jessup | MSBDFA Contract Financing Direct | 100,000 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| SNS Construction | Jessup | MSBDFA Surety Bond Direct | 250,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Theranostics Health | Rockville | Enterprise Investment Fund | 150,000 | 0 | 100,000 | 28 | 0 |
| Trusant Technologies | Columbia | Partnership for Workforce Quality | 12,742.50 | 0 | 2,788.75 | 33 | 18 |
| Vocus | Lanham | Job Creation Tax Credit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
| Warren Brothers Construction | Upper Marlboro | MSBDFA Contract Financing Direct | 100,000 | 0 | 60,465.24 | 25 | 0 |
| Zavda Technologies | Columbia | MSBDFA Guaranty Fund | 300,000 | 150,000 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
SOURCE: Maryland Finance Tracker