Ltr. to Constituents Re. Smiths Detection

7/31/2019 Ltr. to Constituents Re. Smiths Detection

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18 OFFICE STREET * BEL AIR, MARYLAND 21014 * 410-638-3343 * FAX 410-893-4972

COUNTY COUNCIL OF HARFORD COUNTYCouncilman Dion F. Guthrie

District A

July 20, 2012

Dear Concerned Citizens:

I want to address the many comments and concerns our office has received latelyabout Resolution 15-12, and make sure that you have all the correct information. Youropinions and concerns are important and I want to make sure they are addressed.

Resolution 15-12 authorized Harford Counties Economic Developmentdepartment to release $100,000 of the departments funds over three years under theworkplace training grant program. In addition, it endorsed the States loan for $750,000for construction costs including expansion of its current manufacturing operations andrenovations and the leasing and renovations of an additional facility, including,installation of new equipment purchases and upgrades.

First and foremost it is important to understand what the Workforce TechnicalTraining Grant Program is. WFTTG is a competitive investment grant program to assistHarford County employers to become more productive and competitive through theacceleration of technical training to their employees. The county budget allocates moneyeach year for the program, and is restricted by strict criteria on how they can spend it andwhat they can spend it on. The goal of this program and other programs like it is traininga better workforce within Harford County and creating jobs in Harford County. The

business must be located in Harford County and the employee must work in HarfordCounty and be paid directly by the Harford County business. All businesses may apply.The applications go to the Review Committee which consists of Economic DevelopmentAdvisory Board members, representative of Harford Countys Corporate Community andrepresentatives from Harford County Government. The Review Committee meets threetimes a year to review the applications. To be approved the business must complete theWorkforce Technical Training Grant Application, have job classifications, and meet thelevel of training needed. They must have a positive economic impact on the company andon the County. The cost of training cannot exceed $1,000 per person per fiscal year, nooutstanding business indebtedness to Harford County Government, and consideration willbe given to the number of employees for which training grants are requested compared to

the number of employees within the company. This program is open to any businessoperating in Harford County. During the last three years the WFTTG has served morethan 75 Harford County companies, both large and small, and within a broad range ofindustries. The program has provided training assistance to 1,326 employees.

This program is used as an incentive for business to grow and improve theirworkforce. The better qualified their employees the more marketable they are. HarfordCounty is investing in its residences. Approximately 70% of Smiths employees are


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Harford County Residents and they continue to make every effort to hire within HarfordCounty. Workforce development is a partnership among government, higher education,K-12 schools and industry seeking to foster a productive, skilled and competitiveworkforce, including high-tech research and development personnel and employees withscience, technology, engineering and mathematical training. This is a win win situation.Harford County residents will benefit from higher education courses, our highereducational facilities will benefit from the additional enrollment and new classes, andbusiness will be able to employ higher skilled and qualified employees right here inHarford County. In addition, if Smiths Detection does not hire the 103 new employeesand lease the building and remain at the 325 employee level through 2016 then the threeyear loan that the State provided will need to be paid back in full with 3% interest and theWorkplace Training Grant will be pulled.

Other States and Counties have other more rigorous and business friendlyincentive programs including:

The Boulder City Council flexible rebate business incentive program, whichauthorizes the Council to consider approval of rebates of certain taxes and fees toprimary employers in the city, provided that the companies meet eligibilityrequirements and sustainability guidelines.

The Microloan fund is which supplys general working capital to qualifying smallbusinesses and nonprofit organizations. They grant loans of up to $50,000.

The Governor's Opportunity Fund (GOF) is a discretionary incentive available tothe Governor to secure a business location or expansion project for Virginia.

Grants are awarded to localities on a local matching basis with the expectationthat the grant will result in a favorable location decision for the Commonwealth.

The Virginia Investment Partnership (VIP) Grant and the Major EligibleEmployer Grant (MEE) are discretionary performance incentives designed toencourage continued capital investment by Virginia companies, resulting in addedcapacity, modernization, increased productivity, or the creation, development andutilization of advanced technology.

The Virginia Economic Development Incentive Grant (VEDIG) is a discretionaryperformance incentive, designed to assist and encourage companies to invest and

create new employment opportunities by locating significant headquarters,administrative or service sector operations in Virginia.

The Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP) is a program that offers customizedrecruiting and training assistance to companies that are creating new jobs orexperiencing technological change. The program is designed to reduce the humanresource development cost of new and expanding companies.


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Virginia offers a variety of tax credits that are available for use against acompany's corporate tax liability:

o Major Business Facility Job Tax Credito Recycling Equipment Tax Credito Day Care Facility Investment Tax Credito Worker Retraining Tax Credito Virginia Port Tax Credit Programso Research and Development Tax Credito

Green Job Creation Tax Credit

Virginia offers some of the broadest sales and use tax exemptions in the U.S. Virginia does not tax intangible property, manufacturers' inventory, and

manufacturers' furniture, fixtures and corporate aircraft.

Administered by the Virginia Department of Transportation, this program assistslocalities in providing adequate road access to new and expanding basicemployers.

TPOF is a discretionary grant available for transportation-related issues related tounique economic development projects.

The list could go on and on. States must be competitive if they want to keepbusinesses within their State and or County. Why would a business want to stay in anarea that is not assisting in their growth or investing in them? Like many of us we will gowhere we can be the most successful and productive. It is important that Harford Countyworks hard to retain its largest employers including Rite Aid Mid-Atlantic Dist. Center,Jacobs Technology, Kleins ShopRites of Maryland, SAIC, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora,Alcore. Due to Harford Countys Economic Development program and many dedicatedHarford County government workers, Harford County had the fastest over the year wagegrowth among Marylands eight large counties and the third fastest nationwide and

Harford County had an increase of 6,410 jobs. With more businesses and more jobscomes additional tax revenue and opportunity for growth.

Some agree with the program and see its value but want to know why S mithsDetection? The Harford County Council did not have any involvement with choosingwhich company the grant goes to but I feel that Smiths Detection meets the qualificationsset out by the board and is and has been a productive member of the Harford CountyCommunity. Smiths Detection is one of five operating divisions of Smiths Group plc, a


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global technology company. They are the worlds leading provider of advancedtechnologies to identify constantly evolving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclearand explosive threats. They are the global leader in the provision of threat detection andscreening technologies for the military, transportation, homeland security and resilienceapplications such as; contraband detection, forensic work, meteorological measuring andvideo network monitoring. They currently employ 222 people and will be adding aprojected 103 new employees. Due in part to this grant and other State incentives theywill be expanding their operations from 145,00 square feet to 245,000 square feet. Theyare investing over $1.5 million dollars in their expansion efforts in Harford County.Smiths did not indicate they would reduce their operations in Edgewood but, werelooking at relocating these new units to a new location. Since this is the manufacturingportion of the company, they could locate anywhere in the world. It is and was veryimportant to obtain as much of their work in one place and have them consolidate in theEdgewood location. Smiths did look at numerous sites before making their final decisionto invest in Harford County.

Smiths Detection today employs over 23,000 people in more than 50 countriesthroughout its five divisions - John Crane, Smiths Medical, Smiths Detection, SmithsInterconnect and Flex-Tek. However, Edgewood Maryland is its US Headquarters. Theywork with local military, first responders, transportation authorities, and customs officialsto protect our critical national infrastructure throughout the world.

The WFTTG program has assisted 15 Harford County Companies, and trained 276Harford County employees. Smiths Detection in partnering with WFTTG will, over thenext three years, train an additional 100 employees or more. Bring in 103 new jobs. Paymore in property and income tax as a company. Provide additional capital to the

surrounding businesses including restaurants and gas stations. Reduce the unoccupiedhome rates and increase Harford Countys revenue enabling Harford County to invest inother projects like, schools, roads, community centers, and libraries. This vote for me wasa vote to invest in Harford County, a vote to invest in Harford County employees and toinvest in improving and moving our amazing County forward.

Sincerely,

Councilman Dion F. GuthrieDistrict A18 Office St.Bel Air Md. [email protected]

Documents

Ltr. to Constituents Re. Smiths Detection