State set to yank Empire Zone benefits from 52 area companies - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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Albany’s oldest department store. Yonally made that decision aftert being warned that he is one of 52 Capital Regioh businesses in jeopardy of being kickedc out ofthe state’s Empire Zone program. That meanxs Yonally could lose upto $20,000 a year in tax creditsw from the state incentive program. Next the state’s economic agency expectsa to make final decisions about whichj companies to remove fromthe It’s the latest development in an ongoing chain reaction caused by the stater budget, which attempted to shrink the Empire Zone “This is the key moment,” said Ken a lobbyist at , in [For the Empire Zone Rentention List, clicok ; for the Empire Zone Potentiapl Decertification List, click ; and for the Empire Zone list of companieas that need to provide more information, click ].
A legislatived committee meeting on June 2 revealed that stated economic officials and stateelegislators can’t agree on the meaning of key Empirre Zone provisions in the state budget. That debatr illustrates the challenge of fixing perceived problems with the program beforre the Legislature adjourns laterthis month. At the the fallout from the budget has injected more uncertainty into an already unstablebusiness climate. Across the state, busines s owners are preparing tocut expenses—or even employees—too adjust to the new Empire Zone rules.
Thosew who will remain in the prograk have had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in extraq taxesup front—some as much as $120,000 or more. All are stilo waiting for refunds oftheir credits. “It hurtas personally,” said Yonally, who has renovated otherr buildings indowntown Albany. “The thingf that scares me is, if they’ves changed it once, they could very easily change it Who the heck knowswhat they’ll come up with?” Yonall said, exasperated. “You question who really knowse what’s going on.
” On May 28, , whicyh oversees Empire Zones, said it had finishedd auditing companies in the program to see whether they met newstandardsz (see quick info box In all, the state says that at least 76 percent of auditedf Empire Zone companies will remainh in the program. Close to 650 are likely to be removed, or That’s 7.7 percent of the 8,460 companies that were • In the Capital Region, 5.7 percenrt of companies are in jeopardy of losing their EmpireZone • In Syracuse, 18 percent of companies—110 in all—are in • In Buffalo, 43 firms are targeted for removal, representinfg 6.5 percent of all Empire Zone companiexs there.
The state is seeking more informatiohn from anadditional 1,400 companies statewide—including 134 Albany-area businesses—before it can make a judgmeng on their status. “We expect that the overwhelmingt majority of that group will remain inthe program,” said Marisz Lago, president and CEO of Empire State Francis Pitts, co-founder of Architecture+ in Troy, was shockedf to see his company on the list of firmes to be removed.