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There are four to five more companies that are in either early stage or mid-stage study of the Gensee Valley Agri-Business Park, and Columbia-based Alpina Products decision to set up shop in Batavia is going to help the cause, said Steve Hyde, CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center

Earlier this week, we e-mailed 10 questions to Steve Hyde about the approval of the COR Development Project. Below are the questions and his responses verbatum.

Q. According to the best available information, at the time the GCEDC board passed the resolution finding that COR's project would provide goods and

NOTE: There was a big mistake in the original headline of this post about the amount of property taxes that would be generated over 10 years.  The correct number is $4.3 million, not the significantly higher number previously quoted.

Batavia Towne Center, in the four years since the first stores

If Steve Hyde said it once, he said it at least a half-dozen times Tuesday during a public hearing on providing tax incentives for a proposed Holiday Inn Express in Batavia: The Genesee County Economic Development Center wants the input of other hotel owners on the potential economic impact of the

All five members of the Genesee County Economic Development Center Board present for today's meeting voted yes on $1.8 million in tax breaks for COR Development to help the Syracuse-based company bring national retailers, such as Dick's Sporting Goods, to Batavia.

Legislator Shelly Stein, who sits on the GCEDC board

Throughout the 90-minute opening ceremony for the new Muller Quaker Dairy Plant in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, Steve Hyde sat in the second row and smiled.

Not one speaker -- and there were five of them -- mentioned Hyde by name. There was no official recognition of his work

It’s not the residents who decide… it’s the residents who vote who decide! Be one of the decision-makers on the Batavia City School District's proposed budget and propositions; exercise your right to vote.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Batavia High School and John Kennedy Intermediate School

The plans for growth are aggressive, even lofty, according to Batavia City Manager Jason Molino, but if GCEDC is successful in building the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park to capacity, it could be a boon for Batavia's sewer system and the ratepayers who support it.

The increase in revenue could potentially

Press release:

The Board of Directors of the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) reviewed and approved four items at the organization’s July 11 board meeting. The projects would create approximately 60 new jobs, including 50 new jobs at Premiere Credit in downtown Batavia while retaining approximately 50 jobs at

When building the Upstate Medtech Center, the GCEDC should have ensured prevailing wage was paid to construction workers, according to a state Department of Labor (DOL) letter issued in November.

The letter came to light following an Authorities Budget Office report critical of GCEDC's staff compensation practices.

It was written

Press Release from GCEDC:

On April 14, during a board meeting of the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) a resolution to approve the Draft Generic Impact Statement (DGEIS) for the Western New York Science Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park was approved. The DGEIS has been completed and accepted by

When we e-mailed a series of questions to Steve Hyde seeking more details on the process by which tax subsidies were approved for COR Development to redevelop a portion of Batavia Towne Center, we also e-mailed five questions to Mary Pat Hancock, chairwoman of the Genesee County Legislature.

Under state

Press release:

The Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) approved four projects at its June board meeting. They total approximately $2 million in investments as well as the retention of 91 jobs and the creation of 22 new jobs.

“All of the projects being considered by the board are investments

After the initial two stories about the Authorities Budget Office report on the Genesee County Economic Development Center's compensation practices, some readers wanted to know what local legislators thought of the issue.

In the second story, we had comments from Chairwoman Mary Pat Hancock and Legislator Hollis Upson, who

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,I,C-Batavia) recently voiced his support for the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) and its successful efforts to attract a Dick’s Sporting Goods store to Towne Centre Mall in Batavia. The group was able to secure the store’s move through pro-business tax incentives, which will

Was the Genesee County Economic Development Center Board of Directors' decision to provide $1.7 million in tax abatements to COR Development legal?

That depends on who you ask.

A Buffalo assemblyman thinks the GCEDC board violated provisions of the 2013-14 budget act, which attempts to curtail state sales tax abatments

Jim Rosenbeck, a member of the Genesee County Libertarian Committee who's planning a run for an at-large seat on the City Council, submitted this response to Steve Hawley's defense of the COR Development tax breaks:

I often agree with Steve Hawley, as Libertarians often do, when republicans champion fiscally

Genesee County Economic Development Center -- through its financing arm, Genesee Gateway LDC -- is committing $500,000 to redevelopment projects in the City of Batavia as well as the business districts of Genesee County's towns and villages.

The money to start the new revolving loan fund is seeded from revenue

The state law meant to curtail tax breaks by IDAs for retail developments should be defined as narrowly as possible, according to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

If IDAs broadly interpret the law and push through subsidies for projects that should be outside its scope, then reforms may be necessary, DiNapoli said