MARRIOTT International Inc. is staying in Maryland. Corporate officials announced yesterday that their large headquarters operation will remain in Montgomery County at one of three locations. Wisely structured cash incentives from the state and the county helped seal this important deal.

Turning Marriott from a dissatisfied company with a roving eye into an enthusiastic Maryland booster is a major coup for the Glendening administration. It took persistence and savvy negotiating by economic development secretary Richard C. Mike Lewin and Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to persuade Marriott not to flee to low-tax Fairfax County, Va.

This agreement keeps 3,700 jobs in the state and commits Marriott to adding another 700 headquarter positions to qualify for incentives. The price to state taxpayers is relatively cheap -- between $16 million and $19 million over 19 years.

This amounts to about $5,300 per job. Compare that with the $48,000 per-job price Virginia just agreed to pay America Online for a new technology center. The cost per job to Maryland for this deal is in the same range as previous incentives to other companies.

Counting Montgomery County's add-ons, the package could reach $29 million over two decades. Long-range transportation improvements near Marriott's offices -- some already funded -- would further sweeten the offer.

But the economic benefits are enormous. The state collects $20 million a year just from the salaries of Marriott's workers. The company may invest up to $150 million in a new headquarters -- which would generate a large number of construction jobs and materials purchases. Maryland will reap a profitable return on its investment in just 16 months. And state and local property tax credits to Marriott won't even kick in for eight years.

Marriott International is a growth company in the rapidly expanding hotel and senior living businesses. It is a prestigious Fortune 500 corporation. Its chairman, J.W. "Bill" Marriott Jr. is an industry titan. Having him, and his company, singing the virtues of the "Land of Pleasant Living" -- while they contribute buckets of tax dollars to the state treasury -- makes the state's incentive package look like a smart deal.

Pub Date: 3/12/99