Governor touts enterprise zones.

Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard

In a quick swing through Eugene on Tuesday, Gov. Ted Kulongoski stopped at Molecular Probes' campus in west Eugene for a ceremonial signing of a bill that allows the creation of 10 additional enterprise zones in the state, bringing the total to 59 zones.

The state-sanctioned and locally managed zones offer three to five years of property tax breaks to companies expanding within the geographic boundaries of a zone.

Eugene had an enterprise zone from 1987 to 1997, when the city council let it lapse amid criticism of the magnitude of tax breaks to Hynix, a silicon chip producer in west Eugene.

Eugene this year applied for a new zone, which the state approved. It took effect July 1.

Since then, Eugene and Lane County - joint sponsors of the zone - have argued over whether to place a per-job cap on the size of tax breaks offered by the west Eugene enterprise zone.

At Tuesday's press event, Gov. Kulongoski said that he thinks enterprise zones have been proven successful in Oregon.

He added that the zones are simply an economic tool available to communities that want to grow their economy and create opportunities for high-wage jobs.

"Local governments negotiate" on the rules for their zone, he said. "The city and the county were doing that. This is happening in a number of counties across Oregon."

The decision to sign the bill at a construction site on Molecular Probes' 14-acre campus was deliberate. Gov. Kulongoski made his brief remarks Tuesday with a 60,000-square-foot, $16 million partially completed building as a backdrop.

"This, I think, is just the beginning of their investment in Oregon," Kulongoski said, adding "these are very high-paying jobs."

The average salary at Molecular Probes, which hires many PhD-level scientists, exceeds $50,000, said Augie Sick, general manager of Molecular Probes, a subsidiary of California-based Invitrogen Corp.

Molecular Probes' latest construction project began before the new enterprise zone was created in west Eugene, so it is not receiving enterprise zone tax breaks. However, Invitrogen is receiving $1.45 million in other state subsidies, Sick said.

Molecular Probes supported the state enterprise zone legislation because the company plans to continue to expand in west Eugene, Sick said. In the next five years, the company wants to replace its aging chemistry building with a 60,000-square-foot operations building, he said. When he makes funding requests to corporate headquarters, Sick said, he may be competing against requests by Invitrogen sites in New York, California or Wisconsin.

"Being able to have those incentives, like a property-tax break, to build out, expand and hire more people, is an important selling point," he said.