Finance Committee approves Sepracor TIF

Marlborough - In the current slumping economy, several city councilors on the Finance Committee embraced a proposal for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for Sepracor, a pharmaceutical research company. Although the majority of the council offered their support to give the company an incentive to expand their present site on 84 Waterford Drive in Marlborough, others voiced their concerns about giving the company an incentive on a building already under construction.

The discussion came in response to the fact that one of the two buildings included in the proposed TIF agreement is already in the process of being built. Council President Arthur Vigeant, who voted in favor of the agreement, explained to the committee that the request from Sepracor for a TIF came before the building was started.

"I would like to see the committee stick with the original numbers," Vigeant said. "This has been a year [in] process because of the city. We have kind of dragged our feet here. We are penalizing them because of the time it takes to get through our bureaucracy."

In spite of the delay in negotiations, months after the first request came through, Sepracor began breaking ground on the second building and expanding its work force.

Ward 2 City Council Paul Ferro presented the committee with an amended proposal, cutting the ratio of incentives for the building currently under construction and increasing the incentives for the proposed third building to be built.

Expressing his support for TIFs, Ferro explained that his proposal would encourage Sepracor to build the third building sooner rather than later. He, along with Councilor At-Large Patricia Pope, argued that the length of negotiating time was irrelevant because the proposal should be decided upon based on the present circumstances.

"I don't care what the reasons are that it took 15 months, … it does not exist until it comes down to committee, which was six weeks ago," Ferro said.

Pope voiced her concerns that building is already being built and reminded the council that she is accountable to her constituents.

"In my opinion, the purpose of a TIF is to bring new business to the city," Pope said.

Finance Committee Chair Michael Ossing said he had no problems telling his constituents that this is a good deal, given that Sepracor is the type of business he wants to welcome to the city.

"If we did it a year ago when it came down, we would be patting ourselves on the back," Ossing said. "I have no problem with this TIF. This is how we want to do business."

Ward 1 Councilor Joseph Delano responded to concerns about the length of time that the process took.

"It needs to be made clearly that we are open for business," he said.

He applauded Ferro for his terms and admitted that he would be happier with those terms, but he had faith in the deal negotiated by Mayor Nancy Stevens and Vigeant.

"Sepracor is a clean leadingedge type of business," Delano said. "... I understand the concerns that they are already building the building … These people are going to hire as many people as they can to grow and make money."

Vigeant echoed Delano's opinion.

"This is a multi-billion dollar company in the medical industry. They have a plan in place ... Take care of this company, which has been good to our city," Vigeant said.

Finance Committee members voted to approve the original TIF proposed by Stevens, 4-1. The TIF is not subject for approval by the City Council.