CAPITAL REGION Firms cross fingers as some let back in Empire Zones BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
Local business leaders are holding out hope that the state will change its mind and recertify about a dozen companies that lost their Empire Zone tax breaks for 2008. The Empire Zone Designation Board last week reversed the decertification of 74 companies that appealed the loss of their benefits. They were among 640 companies booted from the Empire Zone program last June. The state took action to remedy abuses in the economic development program; 363 companies appealed. Seven Schenectady County projects out of 13 won reinstatement as well as several key projects in Albany County. The board did not reinstate any projects from Montgomery County that lost certification in June. The reversal applies to several major projects in downtown Schenectady, including the buildings housing the Bow Tie Cinemas’ Movieland and MVP’s headquarters, both owned by the Galesi Group. It also applies to Galesi-owned Glenville Business and Technology Park. MVP officials told the state as part of the appeal that they would relocate the MVP headquarters if Galesi lost the Empire Zone benefi t. Still awaiting reversal are the $5.2 million FedEx Freight project in the Rotterdam Industrial Park, Solid Surface Craftsman operations in Glenville and the two major industrial parks in Albany County, Northeastern Industrial Park and Green Island Properties. The Galesi Group owns the Rotterdam Industrial Park, the Northeastern Industrial Park and Green Island Properties. Galesi Group Chief Operating Officer David Buicko said he is “comfortable the state will do the right thing” and reinstate Empire Zone benefits for these projects and properties. “We felt we complied with all the rules,” he said. “We have appealed.” The state revoked Empire Zone certifications last year, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2008, saying that the companies either failed a 1-to-1 cost-benefit test or were identified as “shirt-changers.” The 1-to-1 test measures whether a company’s gross wages and capital investments equaled the tax benefi ts it used and had refunded. Shirt-changers are new companies that are similar in ownership and operation to an existing business in the state and showed no growth in their employee base for the period measured. The companies received assistance in their appeals from Schenectady county and city officials. Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen said the FedEx project easily meets the state’s criteria for receipt of Empire Zone benefits. He said the project’s test measure is 9.21 to 1. Should FedEx lose its Empire Zone benefits, however, it would qualify for a payment-in-lieu-oftaxes agreement, he said. “FedEx is paying full taxes now and using the Empire Zone. The project is generating taxes of $142,000 for the county, school district and town of Rotterdam,” Gillen said. “If the Empire Zone is not restored, the project would revert to a PILOT [agreement] that would cut taxes to approximately $88,000 per year for the county, the school and town of Rotterdam.” ........................>>>>................>>>>................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00102&AppName=1
This article clearly shows that Galesi is accustomed to getting what he wants. It must have really annoyed him to lose out on buying the government housing project that Sync now owns!
Stil........continuing to receive the empire zone tax breaks is a major win for them.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Stil........continuing to receive the empire zone tax breaks is a major win for them.
BT, I do agree with you about this. It's always the way...businesses that really don't need the tax breaks continue to benefit. But I am sure that Galesi is regretting that he underbid the Sync property and lost it. By obtaining that property, he would have had the ability to open another truck entrance and expand any and all businesses in the park. Even if the multi housing property doesn't get rezoned to residential, Sync could sit on it forever and Galesi cannot do a thing about it!
BT, I do agree with you about this. It's always the way...businesses that really don't need the tax breaks continue to benefit. But I am sure that Galesi is regretting that he underbid the Sync property and lost it. By obtaining that property, he would have had the ability to open another truck entrance and expand any and all businesses in the park. Even if the multi housing property doesn't get rezoned to residential, Sync could sit on it forever and Galesi cannot do a thing about it!
I have my own issues with this whole housing thing. It appears that there are many who are to blame for this present situation. And it doesn't matter to me if there is another party waiting on the sidelines hoping for it to fail. That is not my issue. I believe that the owner and our town officials have not handled this properly. But why should that be a surprise....that's the way rotterdam does anything!
As far as galesi.....I don't feel so bad for them. They have several sprawling industrial parks and own half of downtown. So they may lose one they had their eye on. They will clearly survive and continue to devour!
I'm disgusted by the whole chain of events that have and are still occurring on an issue that should have been nipped in the bud a year or two ago.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
NYS leads the sheep to slaughter....help 'em set up...give 'em a boost...fill their pockets in the beginning,,,,just like fattening up a pig....then............
BANG!!!!!!.....bleed 'em to death....squeeze 'em to death.........where's our value in that???????
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Friday, October 8, 2010, 1:52pm EDT Galesi, others win back Empire Zone tax credits The Business Review (Albany) - by Adam Sichko
A major Capital Region developer and two area manufacturers had valuable Empire Zone tax credits restored on Friday.
In all, a state appeals board voted to put nine area entities back into the state’s Empire Zone program. The seven-member board unanimously reversed an earlier decision by Empire State Development Corp. to boot the companies for failing to meet state standards created early last year.
Those nine firms will now continue to receive $2 million of annual benefits—which the companies have said will help them avoid more layoffs and also make more investments in their operations.
The bulk of those benefits belong to Galesi Group, a development firm based in Rotterdam.
Other companies allowed back in the program include Arcadia Manufacturing Group Inc., a metal shop in Green Island, as well as Solid Surface Craftsman Inc., a firm in Glenville that makes kitchen countertops, showers and other home products.
The Empire Zone credits for property, sales and other taxes are awarded in exchange for pledges to create and retain jobs.
The vote caps a year-long review process for Galesi and other businesses stuck in a prolonged limbo. Friday’s meeting was the first in six months.
Galesi used many of the benefits to offer below-market-rate leases to attract companies into their industrial parks in Guilderland, Albany and Green Island, and also to spark activity in downtown Schenectady.
“It’s back to business as usual,” said David Buicko, Galesi’s chief operating officer. Buicko attended the meeting and thanked board members for “doing the right thing.”
“We knew we did things right,” Buicko said. “Now we can get out of this state of indecision. We’ll continue to make investments in the Capital Region.”
Close to 550 companies, or 6 percent of all Empire Zone recipients, were removed last summer for failing to meet a new standard: Generate at least $1 of wages and benefits for every $1 from the state.
Senator to Cuomo: Don't return Empire Zone business benefits The Business Review by Adam Sichko, Reporter Date: Tuesday, May 1, 2012, 2:30pm EDT
A state senator is calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York's economic-development agency to reject 33 businesses in their attempt to reclaim Empire Zone tax credits. Incentives worth tens of millions of dollars are on the line. The companies gained a second chance at that money by winning lawsuits against the state, arguing the state illegally took away the benefits (which were once New York's signature business incentive, at $550 million a year). As first reported by The Business Review, the state hurried to revive an appeals board to decide whether to let the companies back into the program. "Restoring credits ... would be a major step backwards. I strongly urge you to reconsider any proposal to restore benefits ... which clearly do not meet the basic standard of providing enough benefit to the state, in terms of job creation, to justify their cost," wrote Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) in a letter released Tuesday.......................>>>>.........................>>>>>......................http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/blog/insider/2012/05/senator-to-cuomo-dont-return-empire.html
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