Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars doesn”™t seem like much money in these times ”“ and it really isn”™t. You can”™t even buy a high-end Ferrari for that amount.
But for San-Mar Laboratories, as well as New York state, it”™s a lifesaver of sorts.
San-Mar Labs makes over-the-counter drugs and cosmetics sold under brand names such as Beauty Avenues, NeoStrata, CVS and 3M. Last year, the Elmsford company considered layoffs or moving to another state after being faced with higher operating costs.
The Empire State Development Corp. recently awarded San-Mar Labs a grant of up to $750,000 to offset the $1.9 million cost of buying a “new computer system, stainless-steel water system and other improvements needed to produce lucrative high-alcohol products.”
The result is that San-Mar and its 199 employees are staying put in New York state. In addition, the ESDC said the money would help the lab create 115 jobs over the next three years.
It”™s good to see the state is investing in a company that appears to have a bright future in the relatively recession-resistant industries of cosmetics and OTC drugs.
Farther up the river, the ESDC awarded Poughkeepsie $2.4 million as part of a Restore New York Round III grant. The city intends to rehab a downtown building on Academy Street from roof to electrical with the thought of creating commercial space and 11 market-rate residential units.
Across the Hudson in Rockland County, American Innovations is receiving a $25,000 Global Export Marketing Services grant. According to the ESDC, the minority and woman-owned small business “will re-engineer its current bomb-resistant trash bins to meet UK government requirements, create accompanying marketing materials, then transport and distribute the products for use at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.”
The bottom line according to the company is higher growth and increased profits.
We cite these three grants as moves in the right direction by the ESDC, especially in light of the demise of the scandal-plagued Empire Zone program.
Empire State Development Chairman and CEO Dennis Mullen recently detailed at the agency”™s New Windsor office how the new Excelsior Program will benefit business and avoid the abuses that occurred under the previous program.
To ensure the Excelsior Program is not abused, the ESDC will conduct annual audits. “The numbers need to be substantiated; this is taxpayer money, and we are determined to see a return on our investment,” Mullen told regional economic development leaders who attended the meeting.
Jobs have to be created first before any incentives are doled out.
Mullen said “there are more tools in the toolbox,” referring to packages that county industrial development agencies can put together.
“But,” he stressed, “we are not going to give away the taxpayers”™ dollars ”“ we are not going to invest without fiduciary responsibility ”¦ when we look at the return on investment under the Empire Zone program, we will be very disappointed.”
New York state should be more concerned about ROI, particularly when taxpayers are the investors.
If only Mullen could infuse his zeal into members of the state Legislature.
