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Council backs $2 million incubator package and approves small‑business support allocations
Summary
The Council unanimously approved an Economic Development Committee recommendation to fund a third‑party manager and mentoring for incubators ($2,000,000 total proposed) and authorized a reworked Small Business Support Services NDA allocating about $1.7 million (roughly $1.2M to current providers and $500k for a competitive grant process).
The Montgomery County Council approved a package of economic development items aimed at strengthening local incubators and small‑business supports.
Councilmember Fannie Gonzalez, chair of the Economic Development Committee, described a committee vote to fund a third‑party manager to transition management of the county’s innovation network. County staff explained the committee recommended consideration of the request as a single $2,000,000 package — roughly $1.2 million for an operator to manage innovation centers and $800,000 for mentoring, coaching and accelerator services. Staff advised the committee that the third‑party manager could administer mentoring services that were otherwise budgeted separately.
Council staff (Ali) outlined a staffing transition and offset plan: the county could hold a vacant business center position for six months while the incubator staffer steps into the third‑party manager role during the hire period and then backfill the vacant position, keeping net FTE impact limited. The incubator position was described as roughly $80,000; the packet details and performance metrics are in pages 3–4 of the committee staff packet, staff said.
Judy Costello and county executive staff described regional comparisons and success stories used to justify the investment, including past local examples of incubator success. Councilmember Malcolm and others expressed support while asking for metrics and phasing options given the county’s tight budget; staff said phasing is possible but likely to slow recruitment and operator agreement.
On a related item, staff summarized changes to the Small Business Support Services NDA: approximately $1,200,000 is expected to be allocated to current providers in some combination that may include FY25 amounts plus inflation, and roughly $500,000 would be used for a new competitive grant process for new providers. County executive staff said the approach is outcomes‑based and will redeploy underspent funds to higher‑impact activities.
Both the Incubator Programs NDA package and the Small Business Support Services NDA were approved by unanimous hand votes during the session.
