By Bonnie Adams, Government Editor
Westborough – The Marlborough Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) has one goal – to stabilize the residential tax base by increasing Marlborough's commercial tax revenue.
At the June 5 Westborough Economic Development Committee, Arthur Bergeron, the chair of the MEDC's executive committee, detailed how that organization was working to do so.
The MEDC's $500,000 annual budget is funded by a two percent tax on the city's hotels, Bergeron said. The group works closely with Mayor Arthur Vigeant's office on outreach to the business community.
“In doing that, [Vigeant] has discovered that what many companies say they need the most is more qualified employees,” Bergeron said.
As a result, the city had planned a Jobs Fair, with representatives from dozens of? companies, for June 13, he added. City officials are hoping this will become an annual event.
Bergeron said the mayor's outreach has also brought to the attention of officials that although many Marlborough-based companies may seem small, they serve an important niche in their particular industry.
The MEDC also uses software packages that help track when leases are close to expiring for local companies. This allows officials to contact the company to see if they can offer any services that may convince the company to stay in Marlborough. Bergeron added that not only do they use this software to look at Marlborough-based companies, but several other communities as well, including Framingham. The recent announcement that the TJX Companies, Inc. would be moving some of their Framingham-based operations into two former Fidelity buildings in Marlborough was one of the city's success stories, he noted.
Eventually, he said, the MEDC would be looking at Westborough-based companies as well.
“At some level we'se competing,” he told the EDC. “We all get that. But beyond that it's important to see what we can do together.”
The MEDC's vision, he added, would be to market a “Boroughs Plus” area.
Sports, particularly hockey tournaments at the New England Sports Center (NESC), continue to be an important part of Marlborough's economy, Bergeron noted. In 2011, the hotel occupancy rate was 62 percent; that brought in $32 million in revenue and an estimated $20 million in ancillary restaurant revenues.
City officials are hoping to attract more Canadian teams to this year's Thanksgiving weekend tournament – the Black Friday/North American Fall Championship – that will be held at the NESC. And they are hoping to expand the tournament into a 10-day event in either 2013 or 2014.
Other initiatives include working with officials at Fore Kicks, an indoor/outdoor sports complex located at 219 Forest St.; potentially hosting Cal Ripken baseball tournaments; and expanding the annual Taste of Downtown event to include a Jazz Festival in 2013.
“We want to figure out a special event for each weekend in the year,” Bergeron said.
Lester Hensley, the EDC chair, thanked Bergeron for his presentation but added that he felt a little uneasy about the fact that Marlborough officials would be looking in Westborough for companies that may have expiring leases.
“We'se made a determination not to go after our neighbor's companies,” he added.
Bergeron noted that at the current time, the MEDC and mayor's office were primarily focusing on companies already in Marlborough. But, he added, it was beneficial to all local communities to work together in order to compete with out-of- state regions that were competing for businesses.
