Eric Massa will be a guest today on the Ed Schultz Show (radio) at approximately 4:30 pm. The show runs from 3:00 – 6:00 pm and may be heard locally on stations WWKB 1520 am (Buffalo) and WKSN 1340 am (Jamestown).
Mr. Massa will also be attending the 29th Annual Salamanca Fall Foliage Festival this Sunday, October 15 and will be marching in the parade at 2:00 pm.
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Rep. Randy Kuhl will attend and speak at the Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce’s Centennial Luncheon on October 24. The event is being held at the Bartlett Country Club and will start at noon.
Kuhl will speak about Chambers and their role in business and will discuss the business climate of the Southern Tier.
The Cattaraugus Empire Zone Corp. is sponsor of the luncheon. Cost is $15 per person. and reservations can be made by calling 372-4433 or by e-mailing member@oleanny.com.
The Rural Patriot 
Hopefully someone will ask Kuhl about issues such as those in the Syracuse article. High taxes in New York – maybe this is partly why. This article is part of a series – the link following the first page will take you to the article so you can read the rest if you are interested.
$56M in refunds for few jobs
Biggest Empire Zone winners created fewer than 21 positions. Some cut workers.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
By Mike McAndrew
Staff writer
None of the 10 businesses that claimed the biggest Empire Zone property tax refunds for 2003 created more than 20 jobs, and some actually cut workers, The Post-Standard found.
The 10 companies told the state they would claim $56 million in property tax credits that year. The money is delivered in income tax refunds to the companies – all paid by state taxpayers.
The state’s Empire Zone program is supposed to reward companies that expand and create jobs. But the 10 took advantage of the program’s loose rules to qualify for big tax breaks without hiring many workers.
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The list includes old power plants, a shopping mall opened in 1967 and divisions of two big Upstate companies that have cut jobs since joining the program.
Only one of the 10 companies – Central New York Oil & Gas Co., which opened an underground natural gas storage facility in 2002 in Owego was actually a new business in New York. It reported 10 workers, but that was good enough to qualify for $2.5 million in property tax credits.
One of the businesses Corning Inc. laid off thousands of workers across New York in 2001 and 2002. Its subsidiary, sixth on the list, planned to claim $4.6 million in credits for its Corning-area operations.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer accused another of the top 10 companies AG Properties of Kingston, which owns a former IBM complex there of poor management in 2004.
The state withholds from the public any information on how much each business claims. So The Post-Standard compiled the top 10 list using Empire Zone records, local property tax bills and interviews.
Most of the top 10 qualified for the maximum tax breaks by using savvy accounting and a loophole in the Empire Zone law to appear on paper to be new.
This practice called “shirt-changing” enabled companies that had existed in New York for generations to hire just one worker and qualify for a full refund of their property taxes for 10 years. That means the top 10 in 2003 are in a position to collect similar amounts this year and beyond.
CONTINUED
http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1160297726250730.xml&coll=1
Comment by Kathy Bambrick — October 9, 2006 @ 7:55 pm |
Randy, who I still think will win with fifty-five per cent, must really know he is in A RACE! Something he never had to deal with back in his hometown County. Does anyone know what his defeated primary opponent two years ago, Mr. Assini, is doing? Is anyone targeting registered Conservatives?
Comment by olean gal — October 10, 2006 @ 12:04 am |
Mr. Assini appears to no longer be holding elected office. Maybe he has gone back to his accounting business.
Comment by LV Veteran — October 10, 2006 @ 12:49 am |