Cuomo to announce winners of $1B state aid

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is expected to announce Thursday the recipients of $1 billion in state economic development aid, officials in Albany said Wednesday.

He will unveil the winners of two competitions that he launched in July as part of an effort to boost the sagging economy.

One contest involves the awarding of $40 million each to four of New York's 10 regions. The other contest will distribute $800 million to dozens of individual projects around the state.

In the first competition, each allocation consists of $25 million in grants and $15 million in state tax credits. Long Island and the other nine regions each submitted a five-year job creation plan for the money. The winning regions were selected by a five-member panel led by Secretary of State Cesar Perales.

The six regions that do not win will divide an additional $40 million to implement their plans.

"Not everybody can win," Cuomo said last week following a meeting of the review panel. "I don't believe there are any losers, because the process they went through made them better than they were."

Referring to the need for regional strategies to grow jobs, he added, "This was a process they had to go through anyway."

Separately, Cuomo will announce which building projects and business expansions will share an additional $800 million in state aid. Applications for this competition were judged by regional economic development councils and staff from the state agencies that put up the money.

Sources told Newsday that some initiatives put forward by regions that don't win the other contest may get funding this way.

"An effort will be made to assist every region so people aren't left out," said a Cuomo aide who requested anonymity. "The last thing you want to do is demoralize people at a time when you need them to be building the economy."