Tag: Subsidies

Dec 28

2023

J. Dale Shoemaker’s subsidy reporting

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Another year coming to a close. Another 525,600 minutes (almost) expired. As Jonathan Larson asked three decades ago: How do you measure a year? It’s an especially tough question for a reporter like myself who writes about the economy and economic development. There’s any number of metrics — interest rates are up, now steadying; inflation is up, now slowly coming down; wages are up slightly; so is rent — but all of those numbers tend to miss the big picture. Are we in a recession? Or is the economy doing great and we’re just in a “vibe-secession,” caused by our[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Nov 13

2023

State still spending money on Tesla factory

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If you thought New York was done spending money on the Tesla’s factory in South Buffalo, think again. Documents obtained by Investigative Post under the Freedom of Information Law have revealed a $29 million fund that state officials have allowed Tesla to spend on various projects around the plant.  The state has so far allowed Tesla to spend $1.4 million of the fund. The money has been spent on a new boiler, a rotary screw air compressor and additional truck parking.  There’s another eight projects on the to-do list and $27.4 million available. Requested projects include a new cafeteria, an[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Nov 6

2023

Hochul doubles down on a mistake

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Putting a huge industrial park in rural Genesee County was a mistake to begin with. The site was too rural. It lacked infrastructure. Auto dependent. That was the conclusion of a smart-growth analysis mandated by state law. State economic development officials used a loophole to green light the location anyway, and Steve Hyde and his Genesee County Economic Development Center went to work, thanks to some $43 million in state assistance. For nearly a decade, progress was slow. The site, known as STAMP, or Science Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park, remained fields and farmland. No tenants were to be had.[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Aug 9

2023

Niagara IDA extends Amazon tax breaks

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Amazon’s stalled warehouse project in the Town of Niagara won a reprieve Wednesday. The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency, in a unanimous vote, granted the e-commerce giant a six-month extension on a package of $124 million in property, sales and mortgage tax subsidies tied to its proposed  distribution center. That means Amazon has until February 2024 to close on the subsidies the agency granted one year ago for its planned 3 million square-foot facility on Packard Road. Board Chairman Mark Onesi said the IDA could vote on two more six-month extensions, meaning Amazon could have until February 2025 to begin[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Aug 7

2023

No action on Amazon’s warehouse in Niagara

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One year after winning $124 million in tax subsidies from the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency, Amazon has taken few steps to build its promised 1,000-employee warehouse in the Town of Niagara. On Monday, the 217 acres of land along Lockport Road where Amazon plans to build its three-million-square-foot facility remained vacant. No earth had been moved, no stakes were in the ground. No construction equipment was present. In response to the delay, the IDA is now poised to grant Amazon a six-month extension on its subsidy package. The extension — which the IDA’s board will consider Wednesday — indicates[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Jul 27

2023

Mayor, Council cut deal to bail out Braymiller

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The Buffalo Common Council on Thursday voted to approve a package of  funding for small businesses across the city, a pot of money Mayor Byron Brown’s administration conjured out of pandemic relief aid to make a $563,000 forgivable loan to a downtown grocery store more palatable to lawmakers. Under the plan, Council members will each have $389,000 earmarked for small business grants in their districts, with an additional $2 million in loan funding also available. That $5.5 million package passed Thursday alongside a plan that reallocates $59.9 million of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding from various proposed community programs[...]

Posted 8 months ago

Jul 23

2023

Monday Morning Read

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Subscribe to WeeklyPost and you’ll receive the complete newsletter in you inbox Sunday mornings. In 2017, Charlotte Keith and I reported that New York state and local economic development agencies were doling out $8.6 billion a year in subsidies under then Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Nevertheless, upstate was saddled with one of the worst economies in the nation. If it were a stand-alone state, it would rank fourth from the bottom. Even worse than Mississippi. A new study is out, issued by Citizens Budget Commission, that reports subsidies in New York have grown to nearly $11 billion and headed higher. The report read in part:[...]

Posted 8 months ago

Jul 13

2023

Company seeking subsidies circulates fake study

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A plastics manufacturer seeking tax breaks to build a plant in Lockport has put its application on hold after being called out Thursday for circulating a summary of a study that was fabricated and produced by artificial intelligence. Prior to a public hearing Thursday, the India-based firm SRI CV Plastics, seeking $312,000 in subsidies from the Lockport Industrial Development Agency, provided the agency’s board a one-page summary of a study that touted the safety of PVC pipes, one of the products the company plans to make at the plant. A University at Buffalo professor, Lourdes Vera, called out the company’s[...]

Posted 8 months ago
Investigative Post

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