State set to yank Empire Zone benefits from 52 area companies - Business First of Columbus:

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Albany’s oldest department store. Yonally made that decisionb after being warned that he is one of 52 Capitalp Region businesses in jeopardy of being kicked out ofthe state’s Empire Zone That means Yonally could lose up to $20,000 a year in tax creditds from the state incentive Next month, the state’s economic agency expects to make finall decisions about which companies to remove from the It’s the latest development in an ongoingb chain reaction caused by the state which attempted to shrinkl the Empire Zone “This is the key moment,” said Ken Pokalsky, a lobbyist at , in [For the Empire Zone Rentention List, click ; for the Empirw Zone Potential Decertification List, click ; and for the Empirr Zone list of companies that need to provide more click ].
A legislative committee meetin on June 2 revealex that state economic officials and statwelegislators can’t agree on the meaninv of key Empire Zone provisions in the state That debate illustrates the challenge of fixinf perceived problems with the program before the Legislature adjourns laterf this month. At the least, the fallout from the budger has injected more uncertainty into an alreadyt unstablebusiness climate. Across the business owners are preparing tocut expenses—o even employees—to adjust to the new Empire Zone Those who will remain in the progra m have had to pay tens of thousand of dollars in extra taxes up front—soms as much as $120,000 or more.
All are still waiting for refundw oftheir credits. “It hurts personally,” said Yonally, who has renovatedf other buildings indowntown Albany. “The thing that scares me is, if they’ver changed it once, they could very easilty changeit again. Who the heck knows what they’llo come up with?” Yonally said, exasperated. “You questionn who really knows what’s going On May 28, , which oversees Empired Zones, said it had finished auditing companies in the prograjm to see whether they met newstandards (see quickj info box below). In all, the state says that at leasft 76 percent of audited Empire Zone companies will remainh inthe program.
Close to 650 are likelg to be removed, or “decertified.” That’se 7.7 percent of the 8,460 companiese that were audited. • In the Capital 5.7 percent of companies are in jeopardy of losing their EmpireZone • In Syracuse, 18 percent of companies—110o in all—are in jeopardy. • In Buffalo, 43 firmsa are targeted for removal, representinfg 6.5 percent of all Empire Zone companie there. The state is seeking more information from anadditionak 1,400 companies statewide—including 134 Albany-area businesses—beforr it can make a judgment on theidr status.
“We expect that the overwhelming majority of that group will remain inthe program,” said Marisa president and CEO of Empirs State Development. Francis Pitts, co-founderr of Architecture+ in Troy, was shockec to see his company on the list of firmds tobe removed.