LI applications for state business aid up 29%, officials say
Long Island Regional Economic Development Council members Stuart Rabinowitz, left, Kevin Law and Marianne Garvin after last year's awards ceremony in Albany on Dec. 8, 2016. Credit: Hans Pennink
Applications from Long Island for state business aid rose 29 percent this year over last year, officials said.
Companies, local governments and nonprofit organizations submitted 230 completed Consolidated Funding Applications to the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council by the July 28 deadline, according to Empire State Development, the state’s primary business-aid agency.
The council received 178 completed forms last year, the lowest number since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo created the local council and nine others across the state in 2011 to help distribute state tax credits and grants.
The peak number of completed applications on Long Island, 295, was received in both 2012 and 2013.
This year’s increase is encouraging, said council co-vice chairman Kevin Law, who also is president of the Long Island Association business group.
“Programs take some time to produce results . . . More companies are seeing other companies get these monies, and they are saying, ‘If they can get it, I can get it.’ They are seeing the progress that the program is making,” he said on Friday.
Statewide, 2,543 completed applications were submitted this year for the annual Regional Economic Development Councils competition. That’s an 18 percent gain from last year, when 2,159 forms were completed.
The councils will now review the applications and make recommendations to the state agencies that provide funding. To determine winners of the aid, each council can award up to 20 points on a 100-point scale, while the state agency has up to 80 points to assign.
Locally, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and groups representing environmentalists and builders are lobbying the Long Island council to endorse a proposed $50 million program to replace 5,000 cesspools to reduce water pollution.
Winners across the state are expected to be announced by Cuomo in the fall.
Last year, the Island was a runner-up, winning $62 million for 101 projects. It has been a big winner in four of the last six contests.
The council is made up of business executives, union leaders, educators and nonprofit officials. In addition to Law, Hofstra University president Stuart Rabinowitz is co-vice chairman of the council.
