Paterson, WNY officials talk development - Triangle Business Journal:

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Paterson came to the Clarence headquarters Wednesday afternoon to rall y support forhis “Bold Steps to the New initiative. Greatbatch, which recently expanded in Clarence after considering optionds elsewhere is the poster childr for the economic development agendaq Patersonis pushing. He held similar roundtable discussionxs earlier this week in Albanyuand Syracuse. Paterson met with 21 local leaders and executives ranging from Universit at Buffalo President John Simpsom and Erie County Executive Chris Collins to Mark managing directorand founder. “I came here todayh to listen as muchas talk,” Paterson said.
Paterson’s appearance came against the backdrop of politica firestorm in Albany with a battle for politicak control of the New YorkState Paterson, during his hour-long roundtable meeting with the executivesd stayed focused on economic development Politics, however, did serve as a background. “Therw is a time to address these issues,” Paterson told reporterxs afterthe meeting. “I’m not sure why we are just hearin about thisproblem now.
” Collins, who has run or startedf a dozen local companies, said politics does impact how the businessz community views the Paterson “Unless you remove the stigma of New York beingy the highest-taxed state, all the spinoff jobs you want to create with this program will end up in other states,” the county executivw warned. “Tom Golisano is simply the tip ofthe iceberg.” in late May, renounced his New York residency and made Florida his officiaol home because of New York’s heavy tax burdenh on upper class citizens. the Rochester-based billionaire, said the move will save him morethan $5 milliom annually in state income taxes.
Collins said the high cost of state-ruhn programs such as Medicare contribute toNew York’sx taxing structure. Out-of-date, union-friendly mandates like the Taylord Law, which offers certain guarantees forunionh workers, add to the tax burden. “Ws don’t want to see the innovations creater here but the jobs they create go to Collins said. Paterson agreed New York has to “cut its infectious ways of State programs are leading to aprojected $24 billionm deficit this year. Paterson, through the discussion, also hearr repeated pleas to support UB’s 2020 plan that many see as a linchpi tothe region’s economic revival.
The UB plan calls for significantf investment in its Buffalo and Amherst campuses while increasintg its presence indowntown Buffalo’a Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Simpson said UB 2020 representsw a potentialof $3 billion in new investmentt in the region while creating 10,000 new jobs. The catcuh is, the initiative needs significant state legislative andfinancial support. “Wwe need to get UB 2020 out of thestartinh block,” said Thomas Hook, Greatbatch president and chie f executive officer.
Hook credited a closes alliance with UB as the source of the many patentw and medical industry products that Greatbatchj has created during the pastfive “A lot of the success Greatbatch enjoyesd has come from innovations that started from Hook said.