I am very pleased to be here today to honor twenty remarkable and successful Baltimore County small businesses. These businesses are successful not just as small businesses, but by any standard, and I am proud to recognize their achievements.While we honor these 20 today, I would like to recognize the impact of all small businesses, and the role they play in the life of Baltimore County. Small businesses have always been a staple of our local economy, and they become more and more important everyday.
As we work for the renaissance of our established neighborhoods and business districts, we look to the small business community to invigorate our town centers and anchor neighborhoods. Do we want and need big companies? Yes. They provide a major boost to our economy and help support all kinds of smaller companies.
But no amount of manufacturing can fill the void in a neighborhood when a local shop closes. And no influx of big companies will fill the small office buildings that make up our town centers and business districts. Baltimore County has been fortunate to see ten consecutive years of positive job growth, despite the loss of some heavy industry. Over fifty-two thousand new jobs have been created, most in companies with fewer than 100 employees.
We continue to grow because our small businesses continue to grow, and new small business continue to open up shop. It is small businesses that provide support for local community groups and events, the events that give our neighborhoods character. The Lurman Theatre Summer Concert Series and the Catonsville Farmer's Market rely on the Appalachian Bluegrass Shoppe, just as much as the musicians who travel from all over the east coast to shop there.
Small businesses help give Baltimore County its identity as well. It is companies like BreakAway Limited - with its sixty employees - that contribute to Hunt Valley being a national center for computer entertainment and simulation. Or businesses like Pizza John's, a landmark on the east side of Baltimore County, and a stop for many who are just traveling through.
Eight out of ten businesses are what we call small businesses. There are eighteen thousand in Baltimore County. From self employed Massage Therapist Peggy Shearer to the ten million dollar bioscience company InVitro, small businesses are big business in Baltimore County, and the county is committed to helping our small business community grow and prosper.
In our upcoming budget, we have asked for the largest appropriation ever for our Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund, to provide direct loans and loan guarantees to qualified businesses. The County's Small Business Loan Fund leverages a six million dollar pool of private sector capital, and the High Technology Loan Fund can help small business modernize, develop commercial applications for technology and explore new markets.
We have included in the proposed budget of the Department of Economic Development funding for a marketing campaign for the Baltimore County's downtowns, and there are dozens more programs designed to aid small business in Baltimore County. Baltimore County is also proud to be a major sponsor of the Baltimore County Small Business Resource Center, which has helped provide professional assistance to over six thousand businesses.
For twenty years, small business owners and those looking to go into business for themselves have come to the Small Business Resource Center to find the programs they need to succeed. For all twenty of those years, Richard Aarons has been there to help. It is a tremendous milestone for him, and he deserves our thanks and our congratulations. So do the 20 small businesses being honored here today. These twenty businesses represent the myriad of services provided by small businesses in our county. They care for our seniors, build propellers, and design computer games. They are restaurants, printers, a trophy maker, a racetrack and an Inn. If it can be done, a small business in Baltimore County is doing it.
Right now, thirty small companies in the tech center at UMBC are making new discoveries every day, and it is small businesses like these that are likely to find "the next big thing" in science and technology. Ours is a dynamic small business community, able to adapt, and able to take advantage of new opportunities. I believe small businesses will continue to be successful in Baltimore County, and County Government will continue to be a proud partner in that success.
Revised January 11, 2005
Courthouse 