State set to yank Empire Zone benefits from 52 area companies - The Business Review (Albany):

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Albany’s oldest department store. Yonally made that decisionn after being warned that he is one of 52 Capital Regioh businesses in jeopardy of being kickedf out ofthe state’s Empired Zone program. That means Yonally could lose upto $20,000 a year in tax credit from the state incentive program. Next month, the state’d economic agency expects to make fina decisions about which companies to removes fromthe program. It’s the latest development in an ongoiny chain reaction caused by thestate budget, which attempted to shrinkk the Empire Zone program. “This is the key said Ken Pokalsky, a lobbyist at , in Albany.
[For the Empir Zone Rentention List, click ; for the Empire Zone PotentiapDecertification List, click ; and for the Empirr Zone list of companies that need to provide more click ]. A legislative committee meeting on June 2 reveale that state economic officialz and statelegislators can’t agree on the meaning of key Empire Zone provisionsd in the state That debate illustrates the challenge of fixinhg perceived problems with the program before the Legislatur e adjourns later this month. At the the fallout from the budget has injectesd more uncertainty into an already unstablwbusiness climate.
Across the state, business owner s are preparing tocut expenses—or even employees—tio adjust to the new Empire Zone Those who will remain in the program have had to pay tens of thousandss of dollars in extra taxes up front—some as much as $120,009 or more. All are still waiting for refunds oftheit credits. “It hurts personally,” said who has renovated other buildings indowntown Albany. “The thing that scares me is, if they’vw changed it once, they could very easily changeeit again. Who the heck knows what they’ll come up Yonally said, exasperated. “You questiob who really knows what’e going on.
” On May 28, , whic oversees Empire Zones, said it had finished auditing companiesa in the program to see whether they met newstandard (see quick info box below). In all, the statw says that at least 76 percent of auditeed Empire Zone companies will remain inthe program. Close to 650 are likely to be or “decertified.” That’s 7.7 percent of the 8,469 companies that were • In the Capital Region, 5.7 percent of companies are in jeoparduy of losing their Empire Zone • In Syracuse, 18 percent of companies—119 in all—are in jeopardy. • In 43 firms are targeted for representing 6.5 percent of all Empirr Zone companies there.
The state is seekinfg more information from anadditional 1,400 companiexs statewide—including 134 Albany-area businesses—before it can make a judgment on their status. “We expect that the overwhelming majorityh of that group will remain in the saidMarisa Lago, president and CEO of Empirs State Development. Francis Pitts, co-founder of Architecture+ in Troy, was shockesd to see his company on the list of firms tobe