It’s common practice for municipal economic development organizations to cast their nets beyond city boundaries to recruit out-of-area businesses.

The competition between cities to lure new companies, often with lucrative incentive packages, is usually stiff and rural areas with slow-growing populations have an even tougher time getting to the top of the heap.

Last year, the Montezuma County Economic Development office decided to dedicated their main charge in 2014 to grow the businesses already here.

To help accomplish this, the agency hired Chris Burkett last November to serve as a part-time economic development specialist, a role which places him as a liaison between the private sector and local government agencies. In this role, Burkett also identifies bottlenecks to improve governmental processes and procedures.

The rationale is that between formulating a business plan, finding a space, hiring employees and getting customers in the door, new businesses have a lot of ground to cover during the set-up process and throughout day-to-day operations. By having a dedicated person in place to help answer questions and link these businesses to resources, existing companies have some support to thrive, and hopefully, grow.

In the 14 months he’s been on the job, Burkett has made stops at 80 different businesses to meet owners and let them know that if they need anything, the MCEDA is there to help.

Spreading the word about Enterprise Zone Tax Credits has been his primary charge.

Montezuma, Dolores, and San Juan counties are state enterprise zones, which allow businesses additional tax relief for hiring new employees, staff training, insurance, business investment, and more.

The credits are designed to keep money in slow growing rural economies. The tax credits also are incentives for businesses to expand operations and payroll.

“If only a tenth can add one new employee that’s eight new jobs,” said Burkett. “The focus is on what we have here, and how we can make our local businesses more successful. Ninety percent of the businesses I visit with know nothing about (tax credits)… I tell them to go online, spend five minutes answering about nine questions, and you can save quite a bit of money.”

Joe Keck, director of Southwest Colorado Small Business Development Center, says that what Burkett does gives the county an “open for business” attitude. Keck says he’s heard of some businesses getting frustrated with the sometimes slow growing approval process and Burkett being in place is definitely a boon to the county.

“I think that is a tremendous service,” said Keck. “It shows that someone cares and is affiliated with local government.”

To contact Burkett about business support call (970) 560-5581.