ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: IDA turns down First Niagara application

Business

July 20, 2007

By Jill Terreri/terrerij@gnnewspaper.com The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Fri Jul 20, 2007, 02:17 PM EDT

The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency’s board of directors on Thursday did something it rarely does: Deny an application for tax breaks.

Though four members of the board wanted to allow First Niagara Bank to not pay $200,000 in sales tax for equipment and materials to upgrade its data center, IDA Chairman Henry Sloma’s vote against it prevented the deal from happening.

The board is comprised of nine members, and four were not at Thursday’s meeting. A vote of the total board majority is needed to approve projects.

The issue doesn’t appear to be over, however.

After the vote failed, IDA member John Petrozzi asked agency attorney Mark Gabriele how to bring the project back for another vote.

The application can be resubmitted to the Project Review Committee and if it passes there, be brought again to the full board.

The project, which calls for a $2.17 million investment, passed the Project Review Committee last week, where Sloma also voted against it.

On Thursday, Sloma said he struggled with the application because the company was already awarded a break on their property taxes in 1997.

“The taxpayers of Niagara County have been very generous in helping First Niagara become a success,” Sloma said.

First Niagara First Vice President Ed Nickson told the board the project was already under way.

Voting for the application were Petrozzi and board members Gerry Zell, Joseph Frain and Frank Roma.

Also Thursday:

• The board gave final approval to an application from JS Holding of Wheatfield. The company was formed to acquire and expand a 22,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, which will be leased by Niagara Bridge and Rail.

The company is investing $1.8 million and stands to save $480,000 in property tax savings and exemptions from sales and mortgage recording taxes.

• Continuation of benefits for the new owners of the Summit Wellness Center on Williams Road was given final approval.

Windrose Niagara Falls Properties is buying the building and would like to take over the 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, which has five years left.

• Tax benefits for a new Holiday Inn Express on Niagara Falls Boulevard were given final approval. M & S Hotels will receive a 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement and exemptions on sales and mortgage recording taxes. The $5.5 million project is expected to create 13 full-time equivalent positions.

• The board approved Barden & Robeson’s request that they be exempted from their projected employment levels until the first quarter of 2009.

The company, which received a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement in 2004 for its Middleport facility, was hit with a fire in November 2006.

• The board agreed to extend for one year previously granted sales tax exemptions to two companies, Fedko of Western New York, a pet supply company headquartered in Ransomville and Saksco Gourmet Baskets, an Ontario company with a Sanborn facility.

The companies won’t receive a benefit greater than the one originally agreed to by the board, just a longer time to use it, Gabriele said.

Contact reporter Jill Terreri at 282-2311, ext. 2250.

Text Only

Business

Vendors sought for Canal Street market
Vendor applications are now available for the 2012 Lockport Community Market, an open-air market to be open Saturdays in July and August on Canal Street.

The goal of the market is to provide a venue for area businesses, farmers, merchants and artisans to showcase their wares, and show the depth and variety of Lockport's business community, according to organizer Heather Peck, program manager of Lockport Main Street Inc.

May 17, 2012
A matter of survival?
That mammoth electric generating station on Lake Road? It ain’t the cash cow it used to be.

The coal-fired power plant formerly known as AES Somerset faces liquidation if a proposed deal to recharge it, through investment, tax relief and payroll slashing, doesn’t pass muster with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

April 19, 2012 1 Photo
Wishes granted
Nine established downtown-area businesses and six new businesses earned funds totalling $180,000 from the State Office of Community Renewal on Monday.

Mayor Michael Tucker, Sen. George Maziarz and Charles Bell of the Greater Lockport Development Corporation made the announcement in front of Micrographics at 36-B Main St. as several of the grant winners gathered and smiled in the breeze.

April 10, 2012 2 Photos
Rescuing the ruins
Greater Lockport Development Corporation will work with a local business that’s aiming to preserve historic industrial ruins downtown.

The GLDC board of directors this week approved a memorandum of agreement with Hydraulic Race Corporation, owner of the Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Ride tour, stating the agency will act as a “pass through” entity in the event HRC lands state grants to stabilize the Holly and Richmond Manufacturing ruins.

April 9, 2012 1 Photo
First Niagara gets into auto lending
First Niagara’s latest expansion is now into the indirect auto lending business.

The company announced Wednesday it will provide a variety of vehicle financing options through dealerships scattered throughout the northeast. More than 400 have already signed on and First Niagara expects that number to grow to 1,500 by 2014.

March 29, 2012
Claytown pieces available at Clarence pottery shop
Former Clay Town customers who left behind finished pottery pieces can still retrieve the pieces from a Clarence-based pottery shop.
Marie Sperrazza, owner of Clay Hands Pottery, 10086 Main St., Clarence, is holding upwards of 100 finished pieces by Clay Town customers who never retrieved them after the Robinson Road, Lockport, paint-your-own-pottery studio closed.

March 20, 2012
Unpaid billions
A growing chorus of bricks-and-mortar small businesses are protesting what they see as tax law inequities driving them to the brink by requiring they collect and remit sales taxes while their electronic counterparts prosper through tax-free goods and services.

October 24, 2011 4 Photos 2 Stories 1 Video 1 Link
Hoagie Brothers is back at Taste
Hoagie Brothers has some faithful followers. And the restaurant is hoping to see some of those followers on Sunday.
Duane and Sharon Behm of Lockport say they stop by the South Transit Road submarine and pizza shop frequently. They conservatively estimate about 10 trips a week to Hoagie Bros., not including the times they stop by with visitors. The Behms like to tell as many as possible to come by for a bite.
“We tell people all the time,” Duane said. “It’s excellent, the best subs.”

August 19, 2011
Good Karma
There’s a lot of good stuff at Cafe Karma, a new specialty sandwich and coffee shop now open on Main Street.
Located at 21 Main St. in the Lockview Plaza, the shop was formerly The Daily Grind, a coffee shop that had been there since it opened in 2006. Co-owners John Verbocy and Dennis Farley opened Cafe Karma about three weeks ago. So far the response has been good.
“It has been amazing,” Farley, a Newfane native, said.

March 4, 2011 1 Photo
Duffy headlining annual Chamber of Commerce gala
New York State Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy will be the keynote speaker at the Niagara USA Chamber of Commerce’s annual Honors dinner next week.

February 18, 2011
More Business Headlines

Business

Search Results

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: IDA turns down First Niagara application

Site Map

Contact Us