By Brenna R. Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BURLINGTON - A tax incentive is helping Boone County lure new high-tech jobs to the county.

Boone County Fiscal Court will vote tonight on incentives for Viacord, a company that stores umbilical cord blood stem cells.

The Boston-based company has 31 employees at its Hebron facility that opened last year. The company plans to add 76 new jobs to expand its research and development in stem cell banking. Forty-six of those new jobs will be for Kentucky residents and will pay an average salary of $42,320. The company also plans to double the size of its 12,300-square-foot facility in the Skyport 375 Business Park.

Under the Kentucky Jobs Development Act, a company can keep up to 5 percent of payroll withheld from employees' paychecks that normally would go to pay state income and local occupational taxes.

In return, the employees get a credit on their Kentucky state income taxes and local payroll taxes.

County administrator Jim Parsons said the county agreed to the incentives because the county is trying to attract high-tech jobs.

Viacord was created in 1993 and allows families to have their babies' umbilical cord fluid stored at the facility for possible use later for the treatment of certain cancers and immune and genetic disorders.

E-mail bkelly@enquirer.com