Economic Council Scrambles to Complete State Funding Competition

Economic development officials have a billion reasons to comply with the roughly three-month deadline Gov. Andrew Cuomo has given them to transition to the state’s new grant funding process.

The Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council, which is one of 10 regional councils in the state, met Thursday at Marist College in Poughkeepsie to discuss ways to enhance economic development in the region and efficiently divvy up state resources for such endeavors. It was the second public meeting the organization has had since it was formed in July.

The Mid-Hudson council is made up of government officials, business leaders and community members from Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties. Dennis Murray, president of Marist, and Leonard Schleifer, president and chief operating officer of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Tarrytown, are the council’s chairmen.

Cuomo called for the creation of the councils last month as a way to tighten up the process in which state funds are given to individual projects and investigate ways to bolster the state's economy. He has given the councils until Nov. 14 to come up with a five-year strategic plans for economic development in their regions.  

Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, who attended at Thursday’s meeting, warned that the process isn’t going to be easy.

“The state did not get into this positon overnight,” Duffy said. “The situation we’re in now in terms of chasing jobs and people out developed over a long, long period of time. We’re not going to change everything overnight.”

Wiley Harris is a member of the Mid-Hudson council and the owner of Business of Your Business, an accounting firm based in White Plains. He acknowledged that the schedule that’s been given to the councils is tough.

“I think it’s possible, I think it’s challenging and I think it’s going to take a lot of work,” Harris said. I think might take a few more meetings than we have on schedule.”

The carrot the governor is using to move these councils into action is a $200 million pot of federal stimulus funding that will be apportioned to each group based on the strength of their strategic plans.

The $200 million is comprised of $130 in capital funding and $70 million in tax credits. The councils that create the top four plans are will each receive $25 million in capital funding and $15 million in tax credits, while the other six council will share the $40 million that remains.

“Everybody will get something,” said Irene Baker, Director of Regional Economic Developement Councils at Empire State Development Corporation. “How that bottom six is going to be allocated is yet to be determined, but we will be working on that in the very near future.”

Once that process is complete, councils will be able to compete for $800 million of funding that will be available during a four-year period. Baker said the formation of the councils is important, because the state is transitioning to new way of accepting and awarding economic development grants.

The new system, which is called the consolidated funding application, will require councils submit projects to the Empire State Development through a Web-based program. The program will check if a proposal meets a certain criteria and automatically determine if the project qualifies for any other funding opportunities.

Baker said the consolidated funding application program works in way similar to the TurboTax tax preparation walks users through each step. Baker said the new process will eliminate the need for regional development councils to go searching for every funding source a project may be eligible for.

“You don’t have to scour Web sites to figure out what you’re eligible for, hire a lobbyist to figure it our for you,” Baker said. “The state is doing it on the backend. You tell us what you want to do, we’re going to tell you what resources that we have available.”

Chairman Murray said the Mid-Hudson council is in the process of tightening up its vision statement and crafting a strategic plan. Murray said more public meeting will be scheduled and interactive Web site will be developed to gather more public input.

The Marist Institute of Public Opinion, the organization responsible for the Marist Poll, will also be utilized, Murray said.