The county tax board approved Thursday an incentive package they hope will bring high-skilled biotech jobs to the Pine Bluff Arsenal, marking the first time since the tax was passed that it has been used for that purpose.
The Economic Development Corp. of Jefferson County voted without dissent to offer a biotech company up to $73,000 to locate in vacant laboratory facilities at the arsenal. The bulk of the amount would be used to subsidize facility rental during the first two years and up to $15,000 may go toward moving expenses.
The subsidies would be contingent on the company maintaining its operations in Jefferson County for two years. The company would also be required to move into its new facility within 90 days of signing the contract to receive the funds. If either stipulation is not met, any subsidies already provided to the company from the tax would have to be repaid.
Board Chairman George Makris and Lou Ann Nisbett, executive director of the Economic Development Alliance of Jefferson County, did not go into details about the company, citing the competitive nature of the business deal, which has yet to be completed.
Makris did say that the jobs created by the company would be highly skilled, paying an average of more than $31 an hour. The company anticipates having less than a dozen employees during its first year in Jefferson County, Makris said, but hopes to expand to about 300 employees by 2016.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“They would also, because of the business they’re in, be a very good seed company for future development in the Bioplex,” Makris said, referring to a piece of land in northern Jefferson County that economic development officials hope to develop into an attractive location for companies in the biotech industry.
“They perform a basic testing service that is necessary for a lot of food companies who are their clients and we think that long term, this company being in the arsenal, [National Center for Toxicological Research], Bioplex area would give us a great foundation for recruiting some other companies to come in that need their services.”
The Arkansas Economic Development Commission is also contributing incentives to the project and came to the board requesting the added incentives.
“In relative terms what they have asked us to do is a minor contribution to what could be a very substantial project,” Makris said.
The board oversees the expenditures of the three-eighths-cent county economic development sales tax, which was approved by voters in a special election in February 2011 and started being collected in July 2011. The tax may be spent on projects that stimulate economic development in the county and to provide incentives to companies considering locating job-creating businesses in the county.
A total of 1,100 jobs at the Pine Bluff Arsenal are expected to be lost as the mission to dispose of a chemical weapon stockpile was completed in November 2010. Many jobs losses have already occurred, and the remainder are expected as the demilitarization facility is scheduled for closure in September 2013 and the contract closeout with URS Corp. (formerly Washington Group) is scheduled for July 2014.
The end of the demilitarization mission does not mark the closure of the arsenal, and many jobs associated with other missions remain. But in an effort to cushion the blow of the 1,100 jobs lost, economic development officials with the Alliance and officials at the arsenal have been working to locate other companies and jobs to the arsenal.
In a presentation in November to a Pine Bluff civic group, arsenal Commander Col. Franz J. Amann, said the arsenal is expected to have about 1,100 to 1,200 employees working on arsenal grounds by 2014.
The Alliance has been facilitating a federal grant under the name Southeast Arkansas Growth Initiative to help 14 counties in Southeast Arkansas adjust to the arsenal job losses and diversify its economy for a stronger economic future.
The board’s next meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Jan. 17 at the Alliance, 510 Main St. The board expects to hear a presentation from Nisbett. The Alliance has been hired by the board to perform professional economic development services. Makris has said he will also have a draft prepared for the board’s review of the report they are required to submit to the Jefferson County Quorum Court by Feb. 1.