State Senator James Seward writes in the Daily Mail - “The 2010-2011 state budget, being approved bit by bit through weekly budget extender bills, is continuing to come together. The process is like crumbling up your medicine into tiny pieces and taking a little at a time rather than swallowing the pill whole. Even worse, it is a prescription for failure for New York.

One of the most recent budget bills, which I opposed, will gut the state’s job creation program, force more taxes on businesses, slash economic investment and make New York state less competitive with other states when it comes to attracting new businesses.

Upstate New York has many redeeming qualities — our natural beauty, diverse population, renowned schools and historic landmarks — just to name a few. Unfortunately, a welcoming business climate cannot be added to that list. Each time the state takes a stride forward in improving our economic outlook, it is followed by two giant steps backward.

The most recent hindrance, the elimination of the Empire Zone program, was hidden in one of the governor’s budget bills. Without the program, thousands of businesses will face tax increases and lose a significant job creation and retention tool. Surely now other states will be stepping up their efforts to lure companies that want to escape New York’s high taxes.

The governor’s replacement for the Empire Zone program is something he is calling the Excelsior Jobs program. This is not a thorough substitute for the current program. The misguided scheme focuses on a limited group of industries and calls for the creation of at least fifty new jobs for five years. Many smaller businesses, the backbone of the upstate economy, would fall through the cracks. Certainly I am eager to attract large manufacturers, bio-tech startups and the like, but we also need to be mindful of the small businessman with an idea who needs a helping hand…

The Business Council of New York State called the new Excelsior program “an inadequate replacement” that “will limit New York’s ability to compete in the race to create and retain jobs as the nation moves out of the recession.” The Buffalo News called the Excelsior Program “a much weaker program that will have a negative effect on the upstate economy and jobs.”

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