Tom Rivers of the DailyNewsonline.com writes - “Gov. David Paterson and the majority of the state Legislature wants to scrap the Empire Zone program and come up with something new, a program that isn’t so generous to businesses.

The Empire Zone rewards companies that create jobs and make capital improvements. Local economic development agencies and state-wide business groups have praised the program for fueling business expansions in the state, including rural communities such as Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties.

Paterson’s budget proposal would retroactively apply new criteria for qualification to existing Empire Zone participants. A substantial number of the 9,800 businesses getting Empire Zone benefits could be removed from the program, including companies that have made major capital investments in New York, according to the Business Council of New York. The zone-certified companies employ approximately 380,000 people…

The Business Council of New York State, The New York State Economic Development Council and The Independent Power Producers of New York all oppose Paterson’s changes. The groups last week issued a joint statement, asking for the governor and Legislature to continue the program without drastically reducing the benefits.

The tax credits needed “to offset uncompetitive high costs, particularly property tax costs in New York,” the groups said in a news release.”

To read the rest of the story click here.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNaploi had this to say about the Lt. Gov’s fiscal reform plan.

“Lt. Governor Ravitch is right to focus on the state’s fiscal mess. My office is examining his proposals now, but borrowing billions is part of the reason we’re in the current crisis.

“Borrowing to plug a deficit has serious consequences. For every dollar the state borrows, we end up paying two dollars back. And all those dollars we spend paying off debt are dollars that can’t be used to teach our children, keep us safe, provide health care or give taxpayers some relief.

“Our debt costs are already skyrocketing - debt service is one of the fastest growing categories of state spending. More debt would become part of the problem, not the solution.”

To read more click here.

In a letter sent to the every member of the state legislature a group of business organizations from across the state, who represent small business purchasers of health insurance and medical providers, urge their legislative leaders not to enact prior approval.

“The undersigned organizations represent small business purchasers of health insurance and medical providers. We write to advise you of our opposition to the Governor’s Article VII bill, S. 6608/A. 9708, Part D, which would reinstitute prior approval by the Insurance Department of health insurance rates in New York’s community rated markets.

We ask the Legislature to dismiss any consideration of this language as part of the budget making process, and make a commitment to work with stakeholders in the program session to identify meaningful health insurance premium relief for small businesses across New York State.

This small business community rated segment of the health insurance market in New York is broken – and “selling” more regulation as the solution to premium relief is not the solution small businesses are seeking or deserve. New Yorkers have suffered under prior approval before and there is a litany of data to document that this level of insurance regulation did not work.”

To read the rest of the letter click here.

In testimony given today before the New York State Senate Labor Committee, Maggie Moree, Director of Federal Affairs at the Business Council provided insight into our members’ feeling toward the Workers’ Compensation Board’s “Managed Adjudication Path” program.

“I appreciate the opportunity you have provided through this hearing to discuss the Workers’ Compensation Board’s “Managed Adjudication Path” program, or MAP, a process being implemented by the Board with the stated goal of reducing backlogs and more effectively using the hearing process for those cases which require a greater degree of attention to achieve resolution.

The Board has described MAP as an internal business process improvement; however, we and our members have concerns that MAP has implications that reach far beyond the Board’s internal workings.

Based on input from our members to date, I cannot today give you a final position regarding MAP. In large part that is because MAP is not widely known, there is little readily available information about MAP, and much of what is known has not been presented in a context that would allow employers to fully understand the Board’s objectives. The Board has not yet clearly articulated MAP to the employer community, nor has it made clear what if any changes employers may need to make to accommodate MAP.”

To read the entire testimony click here.

The Poughkeepsie Journal reports today - “Dutchess County Executive William Steinhaus wants state mandate relief and reform. Steinhaus and about 800 county officials attended the New York State Association of Counties Legislative Conference Tuesday in Albany, a county press release said. He participated in a joint meeting with county executives, chairs of county legislative boards and county administrators.

“County leaders from across the state have a clear message for our state elected leaders — reform the state’s oppressive mandate structure and rein in spending,” Steinhaus said. “Local property taxpayers cannot afford the cost shift solution the state has historically chosen.”

To read more click here.

To say no to new taxes and new spending and tell Albany lawmakers that you are fed up Click here now!

Jennifer Fusco of the Utica Observer-Dispatch writes - “In an effort to crack down on companies that might have abused the Empire Zone program, four local companies were recently removed from it.

The companies include two real-estate firms owned or run by local developer Henry Heumann - Miter Realty Corp. and 111-117 Business Park Realty Corp. Also dumped from the benefits program were Erie Boulevard Hydro Power LP and DuRoss Realty Corp.

This past summer, Empire State Development, a state economic development agency, took measures to weed out more than 500 underperforming businesses in the program — 15 of which were local.

Of the local businesses, eight appealed the decision. During the past few months, the state has been considering those appeals.

This month, the state upheld 93 of the decertifications, including the four locally.

The companies were bounced from the program for failing to provide economic returns in the form of wages - including fringe benefits - and capital investments greater than the tax benefits the businesses were receiving.

Decertifications are effective for taxes years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2008.”

To read more click here.

Raymond Hernandez writes in today’s New York Times - “Republican candidates are showing surprising financial strength in Congressional districts held by Democrats in the Northeast that party leaders have singled out as ripe for what could be critical gains in the November election.

Some of the most competitive races are taking shape in the New York metropolitan region…

In the Utica area, Representative Michael A. Arcuri, a Democrat, has about $415,000, even as Richard Hanna, a wealthy construction executive, entered the race telling Republican leaders in Washington that he was prepared to spend significant amounts of his own money. In 2008, he invested $1 million seeking to unseat Mr. Arcuri.

Still, many Democratic incumbents whom the Republicans are singling out in the region have moved quickly to fortify their campaign war chests, sometimes doubling and even tripling the amount of money of their Republican rivals have on hand.

On Staten Island, Representative Michael E. McMahon, a freshman Democrat in a conservative-leaning district, has about $1 million, far more than either of the Republicans in the race. Michael Allegretti, a lobbyist for an environmental firm, has roughly $235,000, and Michael Grimm, a retired F.B.I. agent, has about $298,000.”

To read more click here.

Mike McAndrew of the Post-Standard writes today - “A state panel voted Tuesday to boot 93 businesses from New York’s Empire Zone tax break program despite reluctance from political appointees to take a stand.

The state’s Empire Zone Designation Board denied for the first time appeals from businesses trying to remain eligible for the tax breaks.

The Wilmorite Group’s Mall at Greece Ridge in Rochester will lose about $3.1 million per year in tax credits as a result of the vote.
Thomas Wilmot, chairman of The Wilmorite Group, said his firm may not be able to proceed with a planned $35 million renovation of Greece Ridge Mall if it loses its Empire Zone benefits…

Ken Pokalsky, policy analyst of the Business Council of New York State, also criticized the decision to boot 93 businesses from the program.

“It strikes us as a terrible policy,” Pokalsky said.

The EZDB has not ruled on appeals filed by 294 businesses. Still pending are appeals from several Central New York businesses with millions at stake.

Read the rest of the story click here.

In an e-mail to tax payers Friday, Governor Paterson outlines his proposed circuit-breaker that would be calculated by limiting property tax burden to a specified percentage of an individual’s income. A portion of the  e-mail is below.

Last week, I proposed an Executive Budget for 2010-2011 that includes a spending cap to control state spending. Tied to that cap is a property tax circuit breaker that would provide property tax refunds to New York’s working families. The spending cap will impose long-term fiscal discipline by forcing state government to live within its means. The cap puts New York State on a path to economic recovery that will lead to future budget surpluses — which will then be returned to taxpayers through property tax relief.

My 2010-2011 Executive Budget not only meets, but will exceed the requirements of my spending cap. Under my proposed budget, expenditures for the coming fiscal year would be far below the rate of inflation. Additionally, if enacted by the Legislature, my spending cap would require sufficient spending cuts to generate a more than $1 billion surplus in the 2011-12 fiscal year. This is great news for both the fiscal health of our State, and you, our taxpayers, as I will return this surplus to you through a progressive, circuit-breaker tax credit that will place billions of dollars in property tax relief directly into your pockets.

The circuit-breaker benefit included in my proposal would be calculated by limiting your property tax burden to a specified percentage of your income. That percentage would decrease based on the size of the State’s surplus. And as New York’s fiscal condition improves, the circuit-breaker program could provide you with an increasingly larger benefit, since you would pay an increasingly smaller percentage of your income in property taxes.

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Adam Sichko of the Albany Business Review recent story on the business climate in New York appeared in the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal here is some of what he wrote - “The turmoil with New York’s business tax incentives hit home late last year for Alan Boulant. Literally.

Boulant, president and founder of Solid Surface Craftsman Inc. in Glenville, borrowed $75,000 from his mother to pump emergency funds into his business. He took out a home equity loan to help pay her back.

The sudden budget gap appeared after the state revoked valuable Empire Zone tax credits. 2009 was already a terrible year, thanks to the comatose housing market, which had a weak appetite for the showers and countertops made at Boulant’s business.

Boulant’s case illustrates the upheaval going on with the state’s business incentives. And as bad as 2009 was for Boulant and thousands of other Empire Zone companies, this year is just as ominous…

“We are chasing companies away,” said Ken Adams, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State Inc., the state’s best-known business lobby.”

To read the rest of the story click here.