Published: May 14, 2008 10:50 pm      

NIAGARA COUNTY: Albany plans hurt WNY

Local economic development officials are growing increasingly concerned about the way Albany is handling New York’s business.

Threatened by the possibility of the loss of the state’s Upstate economic development czar and already dealing with a statewide moratorium on brownfields redevelopment efforts, officials from the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency are now working with the added disadvantage of being unable to issue bonds for construction projects involving local civic organizations and non-profit groups.

“All of this together is rather disheartening,” said NCIDA Chairman Henry Sloma.

Gov. David Paterson has said that he favors consolidating offices within the Empire State Development Corp., the business development wing of state government. His restructuring plan would shift management and resources to Manhattan and likely signal the end to the position of the director of Upstate Economic Development, a job heavily favored by Paterson’s predecessor, Eliot Spitzer. The current Upstate czar, Daniel Gunderson, was expected to serve as Spitzer’s point man as part the former governor’s Upstate revitalization strategy which ultimately received $700 million worth of support from the state Legislature.

Sloma said county lawmakers are considering a resolution that will ask Paterson to maintain Gunderson’s position.

“We don’t need more barriers to overcome in Western New York,” Sloma said.

On April 9, the state Department of Environmental Conservation imposed a barrier in the form of a 90-day moratorium on brownfields projects. The temporary stay was authorized to give state lawmakers time to revamp the entire system for dealing with contaminated industrial sites. The unintended consequence has been added concerns for local developers, including Northern Ethanol, the Toronto-based firm that wants to build a $240 million plant on 70 acres of land off 47th Street in the Niagara Falls. The project relies heavily on tax credits available through the brownfields program. Last week, county lawmakers called on state officials to lift the ban in support of Northern Ethanol and Kissling Interests, LLC, a company that is looking to invest $14 million into the Remington Rand Building in North Tonawanda.

“That has delayed two sizable projects in Niagara County,” said NCIDA attorney Mark Gabriele.

Albany in-fighting over another development matter is also compromising the county's ability to provide assistance to civic and non profit groups that are considering large-scale construction projects. The list of impacted projects includes Niagara County Community College’s plan for a culinary institute in downtown Niagara Falls and a YMCA project in Lockport.

State lawmakers are continuing to debate the merits of extending a law that allows local industrial development agencies to issue bonds for non-profit construction projects. The law, which expired Jan. 31, is subject to annual renewal. While it has been re-authorized with little debate in the past, this year, amid pressure from some state lawmakers and labor groups, changes are being requested that would require organizations receiving IDA loans to pay prevailing wages on all construction jobs.

“These are two very big weapons in our arsenal that the state has taken away and that's not good,” Gabriele said. “We're just hoping we get them back soon.”

In other matters on Wednesday, the IDA’s Board of Directors:

n agreed to provide the Niagara Regional Federal Credit Union with a 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes program as part of the group’s plan to spend $900,000 on a new 4,500 square-foot headquarters building to be built on Erie Avenue in North Tonawanda.

n took formal action to reduce the percentage of funds delivered to the agency as part of redevelopment projects from 1.25 percent to 1 percent of the overall project cost. Gabrielle said several surrounding agencies currently apply a 1 percent fee to projects and it is hoped that the NCIDA by authorizing a similar fee schedule will be viewed as a more attractive option for potential investors.



Contact reporter Mark Scheer at 282-2311, ext. 2250