Press release:
The Board of Directors of the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) will consider two projects at its Aug. 1 board meeting. The board anticipates reviewing two revolving loan fund applications at this meeting as well.
Graham Corporation is seeking sales and property tax abatement for an expansion of its existing facilities. A new bay will be constructed (12,439 square feet) that will enclose the area between two manufacturing bays facing Harvester Avenue along with renovations of office and manufacturing areas. In addition, a new building (3,800 square feet) will be constructed on the 20 Florence St. property. This new building will be used for X-ray inspections of welds done during the fabrication process.
The total capital investment of the project is estimated to be approximately $5,500,000, with the proposed tax incentives contributing $483,396. Graham currently has 311 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees and expects to add 30 more over three years after the certificate of occupancy is obtained for these renovations.
The estimated economic impact of the project is 17.30:1. For every dollar of tax relief granted, the company will invest $17.30 into the local economy. Because the proposed incentives exceed $100,000, the board will first consider an initial resolution to be followed by a public hearing.
The last expansion project that Graham undertook – also with assistance from the GCEDC – was in 2011. At the time Graham had 278 FTEs and pledged 30 new jobs in three years for a total of 308 FTEs. According to its 2013 application, the company has exceeded its employment goals and plans to continue growing.
Guthrie Heli-Arc, a federally certified repair facility for transportation vehicles, is seeking sales and mortgage tax exemption and property tax abatement for an expansion and relocation project. For the past 22 years, the company has operated out of a rented facility in Bergen. That facility has been sold, and their lease will terminate. CLR Industries, LLC, a real estate holding company, has purchased a facility at 6276 Clinton Street Road in Stafford. Guthrie Heli-Arc plans on moving into the Stafford facility after a 7200-square-foot addition to the existing structure is completed. The addition is necessary to accommodate workflow.
The total capital investment of the project is estimated to be approximately $300,000, with the proposed tax incentives contributing $77,052. Guthrie Heli-Arc estimates that the project will allow the company to create two new jobs while retaining six others. The estimated economic impact of the project is 9.4:1. For every dollar of tax relief granted, the company will invest $9.40 into the local economy.
All GCEDC Board meetings are open to the public. Meetings are held on the second floor of the Dr. Bruce A. Holm Upstate Med & Tech Park, located at 99 MedTech Drive in the Town of Batavia, across from Genesee Community College. The meeting is anticipated to convene at 4 p.m.
Both of these companies are
Both of these companies are already located here and making money. This is the stuff that smacks of favoritism. Graham is not going to move and it wouldn't make a lick of business sense to do the expansion anywhere else. They are going to do it anyway, why are we just handing over tax breaks? I'll answer my own question, because that's what we do and have been doing, so how do you stop now? If Guthrie has to move anyway, I suppose they might move to Monroe county or someplace close if they could save some money. I contend that if we stopped this crazy illusion of re-distributing the tax load and focused on shrinking our governments here in Genesee County, our county's tax rate would be lower than the neighbors, especially Monroe and Erie, just because of our rural characteristic. Which would surely attract businesses and keep them from moving away “It is an illusion — one that seems to have the persistence of original sin — that prosperity can be attained by taking money from taxpayers and handing it to favored businesses.” NYS Court of Appeals Justice Robert Smith, Nov. 2011.
Why do they bother with the
Why do they bother with the public meeting...The public's view means nothing to Hyde and the GCEDC...These two projects will go forward and what the public thinks is irrelevant to them..Have they ever turn down a request...Remember this is how they finance them self's by taking 1% of the cost of the project.They don't even talk about the PILOT part of the deal.. The ABO report as already proved that their facts on job creation are not to believed..So why would we believe anything that they said in the above statement...Have they ever went back to a company that hasn't hired the amount promised and ask for their tax incentives back.....