Baltimore County economic director Jonathan Sachs outlines plan to grow the tax base

Jonathan Sachs, director of economic and workforce development for Baltimore County, told the Baltimore County House delegation on March 27 that the department’s core mission is to advance and foster economic activity to grow the county tax base.

Sachs said the department combines economic and workforce development with agriculture, tourism, arts and sciences and a new division of data and economic analysis. He described a staff of about 85 and a departmental budget of roughly $50,000,000 and said the office focuses on attracting employers and helping local firms expand so tax rates need not be raised. “The Baltimore County Department of Economic and Workforce Development advances and fosters economic activity in order to grow the tax base in Baltimore County,” Sachs said.

The director highlighted the county’s strategic location, multimodal logistics infrastructure (including proximity to BWI), and local talent assets — four four-year colleges and a community college (CCBC) he credited for workforce training. He said the department identified six target industries where the county holds a competitive advantage, citing logistics, information technology, defense and aerospace among them, and said data centers are not among the six target industries at this time: “No. No. That’s not 1 of our 6 target industries.”

Sachs described several operational changes intended to improve decision-making and outreach. The office has added two staff, is implementing a new customer-relationship-management system and plans to score every incentive or deal so the county can show long-term value and prioritize investments based on return on investment for taxpayers. “We’ll be able to show the value of that incentive over time to benefit the taxpayers,” he said.

He also announced a new incentive called Grow, aimed specifically at filling vacant Class A and B office space countywide. Sachs said average vacancy in those classes is about 20 percent and that Grow is designed to offset financial gaps and encourage firms — including companies graduating from UMBC and Towson incubators — to sign an initial three-year lease in the county: “It’s called Grow … to sign their first 3 year lease.”

Sachs cited private-sector guidance from an economic development advisory board chaired by Neil Meltzer (president and CEO, LifeBridge Health) and Paul Tipperci (retired managing partner, DLA Piper). He asked the delegation to help elevate Baltimore County’s profile at the state level so the county’s assets, affordability and location factor into broader economic-development decisions.

During questions, members pressed Sachs on outreach and permitting. Sachs said the department uses a private dataset from SDAT/Department of Labor to identify registered businesses and that staff proactively call businesses by industry and are assigned by council district to maintain relationships. When delegates raised concerns about long permitting timelines and obsolete zoning codes that they said have pushed some providers and businesses to nearby counties, Sachs pointed to the County Executive’s Baltimore County Builds initiative as a regulatory-reform effort to improve permitting predictability and said he would coordinate with planning director Steve Lafferty on zoning issues affecting childcare and other providers.

Sachs agreed to share his slide deck and contact information with delegation staff for follow-up. The briefing concluded and the delegation moved on to consideration of legislative business.