From Rachael J. Tabelski, marketing and communications director, GCEDC:
Please be advised that the two projects that came before the Genesee County Economic Development Center Board for incentives at the Sept. 5 board meeting passed. The details of the projects are below. Please note that the project summary for Yancey's Fancy has been updated with further details of the project. The board approved an initial resolution which directs the GCEDC to schedule a public hearing on the Yancey's Fancy project and related incentives. As soon as the public hearing for Yancey's is scheduled we will send you the details. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Graham Corporation Expansion
Discussion: Proposed sales tax and property tax abatement.
Graham Corporation would like to renovate the "old" plant area, located at the corner of Harvester Avenue and Howard Street in the City of Batavia. A new bay will be constructed (12,439 square feet) that will enclose the area between two manufacturing bays located facing Harvester Avenue along with renovations of office and manufacturing areas. In addition, a new building (3,800 square feet) will be constructed on the 20 Florence Street campus. This new building will be used for X-ray inspections of welds done during the fabrication process. Graham currently has 311 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees and anticipates adding 30 more over three years after the certificate of occupancy is obtained for these renovations. At the Aug. 1 board meeting an initial resolution was approved to schedule a public hearing. A public hearing was held on Aug. 21 to solicit public comments on the project as the total incentive amount is more than $100,000. No members of the public attended the hearing.
Board Action Request: Approval of final resolution to approve the incentives for the project. The application for the expansion project includes an estimated sales tax exemption of $240,000 and estimated property tax abatement on the incremental increase in assessed value of $243,396.
Historical Look: The last expansion project that Graham undertook and the GCEDC assisted was in 2011. At the time Graham had 278 FTEs and pledged 30 new jobs in three years for a total of 308 FTEs. According to its 2013 application the company exceeded its employment goals and plans to keep growing.
Yancey’s Fancy Project -- *Updated Summary
Discussion: Proposed sales tax and mortgage tax exemptions and property tax abatement.
Yancey's Fancy has updated its project specifications since submission of its original application for incentives. The original application was received by the GCEDC in April. According to the original application, Yancey’s was planning an 112,000-square-foot expansion at its existing facility, 857 Main Road in Corfu. After moving forward with planning and permitting for the expansion, the company has decided to build a new facility within the Buffalo East Technology Park (BETP) located in Pembroke. Yancey’s Fancy would like to purchase approximately 12 acres within the BETP, and build a 112,000-square-foot facility. The capital investment is estimated to be $18.2 million.
The company plans to keep its artisan cheese operations and retail store in the current location (857 Main Road), and to undertake an expansion at this location as well. The second part of the project will include the addition of 3,500 square feet at the 857 Main Road location where they will install a new reverse-osmosis system. The instillation of a reverse-osmosis system will allow whey produced during the cheese-making process to be dried and sold. Currently, whey is transported by local farmers at a cost to Yancey’s. By utilizing reverse-osmosis technology, it is possible to concentrate the solid content enough to sell whey to processors and animal feed operations. Recent technological advances also allow the water removed from the whey to be pumped back into plant operations. These advances, as well as the expansion of the town and village sewer system, have made the reverse-osmosis project a viable opportunity in the overall growth strategy that Yancey’s Fancy in undertaking. The capital investment of this project is estimated to be $2.5 million.
The total capital investment for Yancey’s project is estimated at $20.7 million. The company currently has 108 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees and expects to add 50 more over three years after the certificate of occupancy is obtained for this new facility. Due to the changes in the project, a new public hearing will be held to solicit public comment on the incentives sought by the company, as they are more than $100,000 in savings.
Board Action Request: Approval of an initial resolution to set a public hearing for the Yancey’s Fancy project. The estimated sales tax exemption is valued at $638,608, and the estimated mortgage tax exemption is valued at $233,388. The new building and land located within the Buffalo East Technology Park will have an estimated property tax savings of $686,314, and the incremental increase in assessed value that will apply to the additional square footage at the 857 Main Road location will have an estimated property tax savings of $49,022. The total estimated property tax exemption is valued at $735,336.
“It is an illusion — one that
“It is an illusion — one that seems to have the persistence of original sin — that prosperity can be attained by taking money from taxpayers and handing it to favored businesses.” NY Court of Appeals Justice Robert Smith, November 2011.
Both Graham And Yancey's Fancy are fine local companies and I wish them well in their future endeavors. I know people who have or still do work for either, and I have only heard good things. I love Yancey's Fancy cheese, best around. I am of the opinion that both would still be expanding with or without GCEDC involvement. It's corporate welfare and a misuse of taxpayers' money. The NY State Constitution has forbidden this practice for well over 100 years, an amendment was last presented to the voters of NYS in 1967 to allow IDA's and EDC's which was defeated. And they keep doing it anyway. Rule of law? Hardly
There it is FTE, "full time
There it is FTE, "full time equivelant" jobs. I had one of those jobs. It was at Lowe's in Brockport. 10 hours a week is equal to one quarter FTE I believe. I really don't know how the formula for FTE works.
What I do understand is that I earned enough money to pay for gas, to drive from Batavia back to Brockport three times a week to put in my ten hours, so that I could earn enough to money to pay for gas, so I could drive from Batavia back to Brockport three times a week to put in my ten hours,......
I had no money for rent, car insurance, electric, or food, but I had a job. A FTE job.
FTE jobs are not real jobs, that normal folks think of as jobs. The government should does not create jobs. Jobs are created by companies who provide goods or services that people want. The Government speculators "think" they know what companies the people want to do business with they have no clue.
I would have liked to do business with Fisher sports, but they had to close because they can't compete with Dick's. I wonder if the FTE formula includes how many jobs are lost. In an accounting balance sheet, you have to enter both debits and credits to get an accurate picture of your accounts. I wonder how the FTE account looks for real, the bottom line, we won't need a fancy power point demonstration, just the bottom line.
Now I'm stuck between my principles and getting food to eat.Now that Dick's is here, I have applied for one of those FTE jobs. What is wrong with me?
Don, there is definately
Don, there is definately something wrong, but I don't think it is you.
If you get one of those FTE jobs, here is some advice to help survive in a retail job; normal people can turn into complete A-holes moments after entering a retail store, don't take it personal, lol..just keep on : ) ing.