New York State Spent Millions On Program For Startups That Created 76 Jobs

Nerval's Lobster writes Last year, the New York state government launched Start-Up NY, a program designed to boost employment by creating tax-free zones for technology and manufacturing firms that partner with academic institutions. Things didn't go quite as planned. In theory, those tax-free zones on university campuses would give companies access to the best young talent and cutting-edge research, but only a few firms are actually taking the bait: According to a report from the state's Department of Economic Development, the program only created 76 jobs last year, despite spending millions of dollars on advertising and other costs. If that wasn't eyebrow-raising enough, the companies involved in the program have only invested a collective $1.7 million so far. The low numbers didn't stop some state officials from defending the initiative. "Given the program was only up and running for basically one quarter of a year," Andrew Kennedy, a senior economic development aide to Governor Cuomo, told Capital New York, "I think 80 jobs is a good number that we can stand behind."

Comments

Too early for criticism.

[LionKimbro]

Wait a second -- this program has only been running for one quarter of a year?

76 jobs doesn't sound that bad, on such a short time frame.

Sounds like a pre-mature judgement.

Re:Too early for criticism.

[circletimessquare]

exactly

this topic is political posturing against Cuomo. not that Cuomo doesn't do fucked up things. and he does deserve criticism. but not on this topic

cutting taxes for ten years to grow start ups is a great idea

do we point at pregnant women's bellies and give them our sympathies for their stillborn?

do we point at elementary school kids and decry that they've become meth heads?

to say this judgment is preliminary is beyond obvious. it's a weak lame shallow farcical smear attack on Cuomo

believe me, Cuomo has done some ugly corrupt shit, like protect Silver (unsuccessfully) by shutting down the Moreland Commission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...

there's plenty of good shots to take against Cuomo

but if this lame way too early attack on a clearly great idea is the best Cuomo's opponents can do, it shows his opponents to be pathetic and weak and so Cuomo is doing pretty good

Re:Too early for criticism.

[D-Fly]

Yeah, it had only been operating for three months in the surveyed period, and they'd only spent $1.7 million dollars, meaning about $21,000 per job. Not too bad, and it's only 2 percent of the program's projected budget, according to the second linked article. The Dice.com 'article' is ridiculous equivalent to hiring a coder, then the next morning issuing a performance evaluation saying "he's only written 12 lines of code!"

Re:Too early for criticism.

[thaylin]

Where do you see that they only spent $1.7m? They spent $53m. The 1.7m number was the contribution form the companies involved. Would you like to redo your calculation there?

Re:Too early for criticism.

[Holi]

http://www.governor.ny.gov/new... Startup-NY was launched in October 2013. Not sure where you get 1/4 of a year from.

Re:Too early for criticism.

[Grishnakh]

Yeah, I used to live in that area and I remember reading about this program over a year ago. I remember because I looked into it, but it seemed like they wanted your company to locate in out-of-the-way places.

This program just seems like another silly east-coast attempt to try to replicate the success of Silicon Valley without at all understanding why SV was successful in the first place. They did this years ago in Virginia, where I went to college: they set up something called "Virginia's Technology Corridor" in the southwest part of the state, put up a bunch of signs out in the sticks ("You are now entering Virginia's Technology Corridor!!!" with some shitty trailer home in the background), and then wondered why no companies bothered to locate there even though Virginia Tech was in the region. They eventually gave up.

Re:Too early for criticism.

[thaylin]

It is 53 million, not 1.7m. The other poster got his number mixed up. The "only invested a collective $1.7 million so far" part was what the companies invested, not the state.

Re:Too early for criticism.

[ShanghaiBill]

It's trying to bring business back to NY and make NY more business friendly

Wouldn't it be better to do things that help all business, like lower taxes and improve infrastructure, rather than spending tax dollars on subsidies and advertising? This sort of spending is just a race to the bottom, as other states ramp up their own subsides. Saying it is justified because of the 80 jobs is silly, because many, if not all, of those jobs would have likely been created with or without the subsidies. Maybe they could send a few million to convince an economist to move to NY, and explain the Broken Window Fallacy to the politicians.

Re:Too early for criticism.

[ShakaUVM]

Well, it's two things, really.

1) Yeah, they want to get a tech nucleus thing going (which does actually work in some places, if done right) and are going about it in a really awkward fashion

2) They realize that the absurdly high taxes in New York are driving businesses away, and so they're giving a temporary tax break to out of town corporations to move in. The trouble is, the turkeys can see the farmer with the shotgun at the end of the line, and aren't buying it. Who would want to grow a business when you know you'll be taxed heavily after becoming successful? You might as well live here in the People's Republic of California where the weather is nicer.

Re:Too early for criticism.

[Fwipp]

Is lowering business taxes not also a race to the bottom?

(Totally agree with you on infrastructure, though).

Re:Too early for criticism.

[Grishnakh]

It's not just the weather; all the tech talent you need is located in California, so it's not that hard to find employees. Enticing them to move to upstate NY isn't so easy. This is the thing all these states don't understand: you can't get companies to just move to some bumfuck place in the sticks, because they need employees, and employees usually don't want to move to someplace which doesn't have a critical mass of employers, because if their job doesn't work out or ends (which it will, tech employment is always short these days), then they're stuck having to pay $$$$ to relocate for a new job. In a tech hub city, you just go find another job at a company a few miles from your old one.

Re:Too early for criticism.

[Hognoxious]

i live in an area that is being bombarded with thee ads daily

Verily, you are mistaken. I doth not advertise, forsooth.

Re:How would you promote job growth

[FlyHelicopters]

You could modify the tax code such that wealthy people and corporations have to pay their fair share of taxes.

What exactly... is "their fair share"?

I keep hearing people say that without defining what that really is.

Did you know the wealthy already pay most of the taxes? How much more would *you* like them to pay?

No, the program didn't fail

[Vermonter]

"Last year, the New York state government launched Start-Up NY, a program designed to boost employment by creating tax-free zones for technology and manufacturing firms that partner with academic institutions."

See, this is what you are supposed to think, but here is how the truth of the matter reads:

"Last year, the New York state government launched Start-Up NY, a program that allows state politicians to give tax money to their buddies while having the appearance that they care about jobs and the general public."

Re: No, the program didn't fail

[Vermonter]

And your koolaid cup needs a refill.

Re:How would you promote job growth

[SJHillman]

Their fair share is obviously whatever things cost and I don't feel like paying for myself.

Re:How would you promote job growth

[__aaclcg7560]

People with EARNED INCOME pay the highest tax rates. Ever wonder why Steve Jobs and other CEO's take a $1 salary? They don't want to pay taxes on EARNED INCOME. Meanwhile, they pay lower taxes on PORTFOLIO INCOME (i.e., stocks and bonds) and PASSIVE INCOME (i.e., real estate). If you don't want to pay your fair share of taxes, stop working for EARNED INCOME.

Re:How would you promote job growth

[nobuddy]

Easy. The cost of maintaining a country is based on the GDP. If the calculated budget is $100, and you hold 12% of the GDP, your fair share is $12. If someone else holds .01% of the GDP, they owe $.01.

Fair share is not every citizen pays the same. This is no a socialist economy where everyone contributes the same to get the same benefits. Some people hold far more than others, so their fair share is much higher. They also reap far more of the benefits of those taxes. A man that owns 10,000 trucks in a trucking company gets a hell of a lot more benefit than the guy that rides the bus across town to his job at McDonald's.

I tried Start-Up NY

[rbrandis]

I tired to use Start-Up NY. We called and were told that it was only for out of state businesses opening in New York. They referred me to a small business consulting group at Stony Brook University. They referred me back to Start-Up NY. I had the impression that no one I spoke with knew what they were talking about, and really weren't interested in helping at all. I have even considered writing to Governor Cuomo. I think that Governor Cuomo's concept here is very well intentioned and could be a great benefit to the state. But, from my experience the administrative staff are not executing the Governor's program as intended.