Al Samuels, president of the Rockland Business Association
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Rockland Business Association President Al Samuels finds himself in a competition for attracting business with the neighbor next door.
The neighbor, in this case, is the state of New Jersey, specifically Bergen County.
“We border the state of New Jersey, and unfortunately for many years New Jersey has far outstripped New York in what it was able to offer,” Samuels said. “For the three years prior to us getting the Empire Zone designation in Rockland, we lost more than a thousand jobs to New Jersey. Since getting the Empire Zone, we”™ve been able to turn that around. Since getting the Empire Zone status, our economic development agency has been able to induce a number of companies to come to Rockland to make huge financial private investment in Rockland and also to bring new jobs.”
According to Empire State Development (ESD), New York state’s lead economic development agency, the Empire Zone program was created to stimulate economic growth through a variety of state tax incentives designed to attract new businesses to New York State and to enable existing businesses to expand and create more jobs. There are more than 9,800 certified businesses employing more than 380,000 people in 82 Empire Zones statewide.
According to Samuels, $93 million was invested in the county in the past year and a half as a result of the Empire Zone program.
In addition, “One of the things we”™ve done in the RBA and the REDC (Rockland Economic Development Corporation) is that we hold sessions for town supervisors with the businesses in their communities,” Samuels said. “This allows the elected officials, the CEOs of their municipalities, to hear from the business community what their issues and needs are because there is always that opportunity for them to go across the border to New Jersey.”
Samuels said the main complaints of RBA members include obstacles to opening new businesses, such as demanding a certain number of parking spaces, limited infrastructure and excessive school taxes.
One of the biggest problems Rockland companies face is attracting the work force they need, Samuels said. There is presently no intra-county bus network. Samuels hopes a one-seat ride over the Tappan Zee Bridge to and from New York City will help the county attract the work forces businesses need, although there has been no firm commitment on that.
New Jersey has a different plan.
One avenue of New Jersey”™s goals is job creation. The state implemented a program in January called Invest New Jersey that applies to all businesses within the state.
The program will give a $3,000 grant for any business with a minimum of five employees that creates a new full-time job, including health insurance, with a limit is up to $500,000 per applicant. The person must be employed for one year or more and stay in the state.
The governor has set aside $120 million for this program.
The program is first come, first serve and it is administered by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority
Another avenue is capital investments. New Jersey will give a grant of 7 percent for qualified capital investments up to a million dollars per applicant.
The program will run for two years, until 2011.
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