DeFrancisco blocks $15 million grant for NexGen, says he wants disclosure first

DeWITT, N.Y. — State Sen. John DeFrancisco (R–DeWitt) has put the brakes on a $15 million New York State grant for a high-tech company in his district.

“I would love to see the project completed,” DeFrancisco, No. 2 in the Republican-led Senate, tells BJNN, but he says there are no assurances the state’s economic-development agency has conditions in place that would make sure the company upheld its end of the bargain.

“It is beyond comprehension,” DeFrancisco says of Empire State Development’s failure to provide a final agreement with NexGen Power Corporation before asking the state Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) to approve the $15 million grant.

As a state senator, DeFrancisco was able to halt a planned vote by the PACB that had been scheduled for Friday afternoon.

The grant is supposed to help California–headquartered NexGen move into an 82,000-square-foot building at 50 Collamer Crossing Parkway that the state built for a different firm from the Golden State. The building is available because after New York spent $90 million on its construction, California–based Soraa, walked away from the project without paying any penalty.

DeFrancisco, who has sponsored legislation calling for full disclosure of economic-development deals, compared what has been happening to asking for a loan without providing any proof of ability to pay it back.

He says any agreement ought to make it clear that the state can claw back any tax money spent on projects that don’t go forward. That means making sure the agreements aren’t just with shell companies with no assets, he says.

DeFrancisco on Jan. 30  announced he is running for New York governor this year. In his announcement speech, he criticized Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s economic-development programs, specifically citing the $90 million building in DeWitt that the state built and Soraa never occupied.

The senator also tells BJNN that NexGen CEO Dinesh Ramanathan had been involved in a similar economic-development project for another company in the Rochester area and walked away from that. In that case, Ramanathan left before any state money was invested, DeFrancisco says.

“We’re trying to get more public disclosure of these deals,” DeFrancisco says. “There are many projects exactly like this.”

On Feb. 9, the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency approved a $3.1 million payment in lieu of taxes agreement with NexGen. In turn, Ramanathan said the company would create 290 jobs in the area in the next seven years.

Contact McChesney at cmcchesney@cnybj.com