11/19/09: Unshackle Upstate: IDA Draft Reform Proposal is a Bust

Albany, NY -- Unshackle Upstate today expressed outrage over the governor's draft Industrial Development Agency (IDA) "reform" proposal, which would require developers to pay prevailing wages on many construction projects that receive lower cost financing through an IDA.

"Our economy is in the worst shape it has been in since the Great Depression - how can the governor propose a measure that will destroy hope for economic recovery in New York?" said Brian Sampson, executive director of Unshackle Upstate.  "By adding additional costs onto IDA economic development incentives, which New York desperately needs because of the high cost of doing business here, this proposal would severely undercut a valuable economic development tool. This is simply outrageous - the governor is jeopardizing the upstate economy for short term political gain."

According to Sampson, IDAs have performed a valuable service in the development of many of New York's small and large economic development projects.  Financing provided through IDAs have enabled hospitals to expand, business to locate, and people to stay in the state.  For many companies looking to expand or locate in New York, IDAs provide a real way of reducing a burdensome property tax load.  Currently New York State carries the second-highest property tax burden in the United States.

"Lawmakers who maintain they are working to enhance economic development opportunities need to tell the governor to try again. It's time for the governor to get serious about economic development and consult the business community - the hardworking business-men and -women who struggle day in day out to stay afloat here in New York," said Sampson. "What he has proposed is shameful."