Archive: Business & Technology

Empire Zones were created by New York to stimulate business growth and expansion, and to create more jobs.  There are 82 Empire Zones in New York State, accounting for more than 9,800 certified businesses them employ over 380,000 people.  The Empire Zone in Tompkins County is split into six sub zones, two of them in Lansing.  "The program is really aimed toward businesses that are growing so it can benefit existing businesses as long as they are making capital investments and see an increase in employment," says Tompkins County Area Development 's (TCAD) Heather Filiberto.  "It does also provide benefits to new businesses.  There's a little bit additional benefit to new businesses, but I think on the whole there are some really good benefits for businesses that are expanding."


As the zone coordinator for Tompkins County, Filiberto attended the Village of Lansing Planning board meeting last week to start a dialog between them and TCAD that could lead to further development and new jobs in the Village.  The geographically largest sub-zone includes airport area businesses in both the Town and Village of Lansing, stretching from Cornel Business and Technology Park north to the Warren Road Business Park on Dutch Mill Road, where seven businesses including UPS and Transonic Systems are located.

The other six sub-zones are located in the small business park south of the Lansing Town Hall, the City and Town of Ithaca, and two in Dryden.  The six zones together account for two square miles.  "The way that we identified the zoned areas was by working with representatives from all municipalities to sort of identify where they wanted to see the commercial growth where the past growth had happened, and sort of build on that," Filiberto  says.  "So that's really how those boundaries were identified."


A business has to be located in a sub-zone, be identified as a strategic industry or a targeted business, and they have to meet minimum thresholds to meet a benefit to cost ratio that is provided by the state in order to be certified to receive benefits.  TCAD manages the program for Tompkins County, and Filiberto says that they certified their first two businesses last year after getting their our zone designation in July.  So far this year an additional 14 businesses have been certified, and the program is already bringing expansion and new jobs into the county.

Certified businesses must commit to meeting program thresholds by building and adding jobs.  The lowest investment threshold is $25,000 over a five year business period for a retail business and a creation of two full-time equivalent jobs.  For manufacturers it is a $70,000 investment and three full-time jobs.  The ratio is $15 on the business side to every dollar that the state creates in tax benefits.  The wage tax credit is $1,500 per employee and that's good for a period of five years.  Other tax credits may also be applied.

"They are still paying their property taxes, the municipality is still getting their property tax dollars, but the state is giving them a little bit of benefit," she says.  "Businesses that get certified are required just to file a business manual report every year.  We've identified in our development plan that after a business has submitted three years of reports, we will go back and look at what their projections were on their application and see if they are meeting their job creation and investment projections.  For businesses who really are under-performing, we recommend decertifying them.  They can't get any benefit out of ensuing years if they get de-certified."


Filiberto also visited the Lansing Town Board Wednesday to plead for sewer for the Warren Road Business Park.  She argued that it would not only mean keeping jobs in Lansing, but bringing new businesses and jobs here as well.  She noted that the park is within the Empire Zone, and committed to finding some funding for a sewer project that would join to the Village of Lansing's system further south on Warren Road.

Filiberto told the Village Planning Board that TCAD can adjust the types of businesses that are qualified for certification based on the development goals of the municipalities.  She urged them to call her as the Village's goals change.


"I think the really nice thing about this program is that it is based upon what a business actually does from one year to the next," Filiberto  says.  "If they are creating new jobs they are going to get a tax credit.  If they are investing in their property, if they are investing in their business they will get a tax credit.  If they are not doing any of that, tax season comes around and they don't get anything."

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