WASHINGTON — Twenty of the 52 initiatives outlined in the District of Columbia’s five-year economic development strategy have been completed during the first year of its implementation, though bond and infrastructure-bank initiatives have yet to be completed, district officials announced Tuesday.
The five-year strategy, released in November 2012, aims to create 100,000 new jobs and generate $1 billion in new tax revenue by November 2017.
While Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Victor Hoskins said the plan is projected to create a little more than 100,000 jobs, it is only on track to generate about $692 million in revenue.
“On the revenue side, we’re a little bit behind,” Hoskins said, explaining that property values have not appreciated as fast as city officials wanted.
The economic development strategy contains six “bold visions” for the district. These are for the district to: have the most business-friendly economy in the nation; be the largest technology center on the east coast; be the nation’s “destination of choice;” stop losing spending on retail to Maryland and Virginia; have a best-in-class global medical center; and become the top North American destination for foreign investors, businesses and tourists.
In order to make these visions a reality, the plan lays out set of initiatives. One of these initiatives is to examine economic development projects with tax-increment financing and repay the bonds early when possible to free up the district’s debt capacity for new high priority economic development. Another initiative is to create infrastructure investment fund.
The Federal City Council, a business and civic organization focused on helping the district, is looking into the feasibility of creating an infrastructure investment fund and may make recommendations soon, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and Hoskins said.
“I think one of the questions for us is, do we believe by creating such an entity, it will really facilitate the generation of revenue and investment in the city?” Gray said.
The initiative involving tax-increment financing is also not one of the completed projects.
The 20 completed initiatives include helping small businesses obtain federal contracts, developing a program that provides affordable office space to tech start-ups and developing and marketing D.C. as an attractive place for foreign direct investment, city officials said.
Gray said he thought it was impressive that about 40% of the initiatives were completed in the first year of the plan. He thinks the district has made “an enormous amount of progress.”
The update on the five-year strategy came the day after Gray announced that he is running for reelection. It had been unclear whether Gray, a Democrat, would seek a second term as mayor because federal prosecutors are investigating alleged financing abuses that may have occurred in connection with his 2010 campaign. The investigation so far has led to the convictions of four people affiliated with the campaign. Four members of the city council are running against Gray.
