Report: START-UP NY created 332 jobs in 2015

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s START-UP NY program created 332 jobs during 2015 and a total of 408 net new jobs in the program’s first two years.

That’s according to a report entitled “Business Incentives Report” that Empire State Development (ESD) posted to its website on Friday afternoon, just ahead of the holiday weekend.

New York State spent more than $50 million promoting START-UP NY between late 2013 and early 2015, Empire State Development reported last year.

The July 1 progress report was originally expected to be issued at the end of the first quarter.

The job-creation details were tucked away in a fine-print footnote at the bottom of page 10 of the 16-page report in the section that focused on START-UP NY.

The program anticipates a job-creation total of about 1,128 positions by the end of 2016, according to the footnote.

Under the program, which launched in October 2013, businesses can operate tax-free for 10 years on eligible land and space. Businesses partner with the higher-education institutions and have access to industry experts and advanced-research laboratories, according to Cuomo’s office.

START-UP NY has created 441 tax-free areas. The companies have committed to creating over 4,100 jobs and investing more than $230 million by the end of 2020, the report said.

The program includes 159 businesses that invested $11.4 million in New York during 2015. New York awarded those companies nearly $1.2 million in tax incentives, according to a separate document on START-UP NY companies also posted at the ESD website.

The document lists the number of companies by region. Central New York, Mohawk Valley, and North Country have two firms apiece; the Southern Tier has nine companies operating in the START-UP NY program, according to the document.

In Central New York, SUNY Oswego sponsors Designer Hardwood Flooring CNY Inc.; SUNY Upstate Medical University sponsors Motion Intelligence.

In the Mohawk Valley, Pro Drones USA LLC operates under the sponsorship of Mohawk Valley Community College, while Royal Meadery operates under the sponsorship of SUNY Cobleskill, according to the report.

In the North Country, SUNY Canton sponsors Adirondack Operations LLC and SUNY Plattsburgh is sponsoring Eye-In Media (USA) Inc.

However, according to a report by the Empire Center for Public Policy, Inc., Royal Meadery and Adirondack Operations LLC “have publicly stated their intention to withdraw from START-UP.”

In the Southern Tier, Cornell University is sponsoring Ursa Space Systems Inc.; Xallent LLC; and Incodema3D LLC; while Binghamton University is sponsoring Advanced Material Analytics LLC; Innovation Associates Inc.; ClickCare LLC; Charge CCCV LLC; Sonic Blocks; and LightSpin Technologies Inc.

Reaction
“Taxpayers have invested millions of dollars to promote a job-creation initiative that has turned out to be long on promises but woefully short on actual jobs,” Brian M. Kolb, New York Assembly Minority Leader, said in a statement issued Friday.

He’s calling on the state to “reevaluate the START-UP NY program and its future.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com