Taxing entities to vote on tax break for Northwest Medical Isotopes
UPDATE 11:00 AM: Boone County Family Resources, City of Columbia and several other Boone County groups voted unanimously to approve Chapter 100 bonds for the Northwest Medical Isotopes.
The plan is to build the facility south of Columbia off of Discovery Parkway in the University of Missouri owned Discovery Ridge Research Park.
“Today there is no source of supplies in the Americas for this product,” said Dave Griggs, Chair of REDI incentives subcommittee. “So all medical communities are very dependent on reactors scattered around the world.”
He said this is the first time in more than 30 years the U.S. Nuclear Reactor Committee has approved this type of facility.
Columbia Chamber of Commerce President Matt McCormick said the plant would create about one-hundred jobs and benefit Missouri overall.
“It’s that trickle-down effect,” he said. “Other companies might come here because of Northwest Medical Isotopes.”
The new facility will work with the University of Missouri’s reactor.
“They do some fantastic amazing things for cancer patients all over the country,” said Rep. Chuck Basye (R- Rocheport).
The new plant can create radioactive material used to help detect diseases in the kidney’s, lungs, heart and bones.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Several Boone County groups, including Columbia Public Schools and the Boone County library district, will meet on Tuesday morning to vote on a project that has been in the works since 2014.
They’ll vote whether or not to approve Chapter 100 bonds for Northwest Medical Isotopes. The plan to build a new facility was originally announced in 2014 but has hit some road bumps with the federal government in the process. The proposed location is south of Columbia off of Discovery Parkway.
The facility will be used to research and create medicine to fight diseases such as cancer.
As of May, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the facility’s construction permit, and it has been cleared on the federal level.
Because the tax break will be on real and personal property tax, groups that function on property tax revenue must approve the Chapter 100 bond process first. Those groups include Boone County Family Resources, Columbia Public Schools, Columbia/Boone County Library, and also the city of Columbia.
