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Doctor gets tax breaks for settling in rural community

She accepts $20,000 in rent subsidies and parking lot improvements for opening the only primary care office in a small Texas town.

By Mike Norbut, amednews staff. Aug. 18, 2003.

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Cities and counties are known to offer economic incentives to businesses in hopes of luring them to the area. But mostly rural Johnson County, Texas, has taken the idea a step further, sweetening the pot to entice a physician to practice there.

The beneficiary is Jennifer Weatherly, DO, a family physician who last month opened the only primary care practice in Grandview, a town of 1,400 residents about 35 miles south of Fort Worth. To seal the deal, the county's economic development commission offered a $20,000 package, including rent subsidies and a $3,500 commitment to help repair the parking lot in front of Dr. Weatherly's office.

In exchange, Dr. Weatherly, who also has a practice in Lancaster, Texas, just south of Dallas, will practice in Grandview at least 20 hours a week. A cardiologist who helped her in the decision-making process, Fred Maese, MD, also will have office hours in Grandview once a week, she said.

City and county officials are hoping Dr. Weatherly's impact will provide a noneconomic incentive for businesses to relocate to the area. The rent subsidy is worth it to build a health care infrastructure, they said.

"This is the first time I've seen [incentives offered] when it wasn't associated with a hospital recruitment," said Mark Willis, executive director of the Johnson County Economic Development Commission. "It will be more convenient for current businesses, and hopefully it will make it more attractive for people moving down there."