Suffolk County IDA

Government Offers Immediate Funding to Promote Business Success

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From left: Rosalie Drago, Commissioner, Suffolk County Department of Labor; Kelly Murphy, Deputy Executive Director, Suffolk County IDA, and; Cara Longworth, Regional Director, Empire State Development.

The public sector stands ready to provide immediate financial assistance to help Long Island companies achieve their goals and fulfill their workforce needs.

HIA-LI works closely with officials at all levels of government to bring these resources to the attention of our members and to help members take advantage of a wide range of public-sector assistance programs.

Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with three government officials whose agencies have an outstanding track record of success in providing financial support to local businesses. They are:

These three entities are true partners of Long Island business. Let’s take a quick look at what each has to offer:

Empire State Development isthe state’s main arm for economic development. It encourages business growth and investment, job growth, and a diversified economy through loans, grants, tax credits, marketing, minority/women-owned business support, workforce development, technical support, export assistance, COVID support, and other business-friendly tools.

Long Island’s Regional Economic Development Council channels State resources pursuant to a regional strategic plan. And to make the process highly efficient, Cara’s office uses a “Consolidated Funding Application.” It enables businesses to tap into multiple sources of funds through a single application

The Suffolk County Department of Labor supports business growth through recruitment services and hiring incentives, and also with economic and labor market data. The department serves workers directly through job training, job development, placement, and supportive services.

While Empire State Development can provide funding for businesses to create jobs, the County Labor Department’s key role is to draw talent to companies and to get them ready for work.

Rosalie wants to hear from business about gaps in the workforce. Her agency’s funds are then used to train the talent pool. She works with local training providers – including local colleges and trade schools – to train existing workers and the emerging workforce for available jobs.

The Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency serves the entire county except the towns of Brookhaven, Islip, Riverhead, and Babylon, which have their own IDAs. Suffolk IDA promotes and attracts job and recreational opportunities. It targets companies wishing to remain or expand in Suffolk, or to move into the county. The types of industries the IDA generally helps are in manufacturing, distribution, R&D, and warehousing in addition to energy projects and multifamily housing.

Kelly’s agency, which often enhances its aid packages with incentives from PSEG and National Grid, offers three main forms of assistance: reductions in the mortgage recording tax, sales tax exemptions, and property tax exemptions.

For a link to the video of my conversation with these three remarkable women, click here. You can also listen to the conversation on my podcast, “Business Steps Up,” by clicking here.

And here’s their contact information:

Empire State Development (ESD)
Cara Longworth, Regional Director
LIREDC@esd.ny.gov
631-435-0717

Suffolk County Department of Labor (DOL)
Rosalie Drago, Commissioner
rosalie.drago@suffolkcountyny.gov
diane.lachapelle@suffolkcountyny.gov
631-853-6600

Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency (IDA)
Kelly Murphy, Deputy Executive Director
kelly.murphy@suffolkcountyny.gov
631-853-4802

I urge HIA-LI members and all local businesses to learn about the financing and services these agencies offer and to contact them. They really want you to hear from you!

Folks, this is “money on the table” that will help your business succeed. Take advantage of it!

Celebrating Long Island Businesses and Embracing Opportunities

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One of HIA-LI’s primary missions, as most of you know, is to advocate for the growth and sustainability of the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge (LI-IHP), formerly the Hauppauge Industrial Park.

With the Park in mind, I’m pleased to share this upbeat progress report.

Some context: The Park’s enormous economic potential

The HIA-LI cooperated with the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency, the Regional Plan Association, Stony Brook University, and the Town of Smithtown to produce a 160-page “Economic Impact Study and Opportunity Analysis” that reported on the Park’s remarkable magnitude and impact and set forth a vision for further growth.

With 1,300 companies employing 55,000 people, LI-IPH is, amazingly, America’s second-largest industrial park. Delivering $4 billion in annual payroll and $14 billion in overall economic output, the Park accounts for one in twenty Long Island jobs.

58 percent of park tenants fall into the essential “tradeable” category: their exports and services bring new net dollars into the region. This figure contrasts with only 23 percent Island-wide and 36 percent nationally. LI-IPH’s wisest strategy is to help nurture and build out these competitive tradeable industries.

HIA-LI is advancing strategies for attracting the necessary facilities, amenities, talent pool, and knowledge base for further firm clustering – and we’re working to elevate the Park’s brand as Long Island’s premier hub for growing businesses.

Sign up for upcoming virtual events

To help shine a spotlight on the businesses at the LI-IPH, HIA-LI is hosting several virtual events. During these difficult times, we’ve waived attendance fees for these events:

  • Tradable Sectors and How They Impact the Long Island Economy
    Monday, September 14. 9:00am – 10:30am. Click here to register
  • Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge Update: Current and Future Growth
    Tuesday, September 22. 9:00am – 10:30am. Click here to register
  • HIA-LI Business Achievement Awards
    Tuesday, September 29. Networking at 11:00am. Event at 12:00pm. Click here to register
  • HIA-LI Annual Trade Show & Conference
    Wednesday, October 7 and Thursday, October 8. Attendees can click on virtual exhibit booths to schedule live appointments, “walk” the floor, and more.  Click here to register 

Workforce housing is coming to the Park  

To attract a competitive workforce, communities must offer housing for young professionals. To help fulfill the vision set forth in the “Opportunity Analysis” cited above, the Town of Smithtown recently and laudably voted to create a “zoning overlay” district within the Park, allowing for multi-use development, including workforce housing. The Town acted in response to advocacy by HIA-LI and other business and civic interests.

Providing health and safety education for the Park’s workforce 

As you may be aware, many production workers employed in the Park come from communities experiencing high rates of COVID-19. In many instances, workers would benefit by obtaining disease prevention information in their places of work. 

To make this happen, HIA-LI is coordinating with the Suffolk County Department of Labor to introduce workplace-based, COVID-focused health education programming. To learn more, contact: Angela.Ramos@suffolkcountyny.gov

We’re working to help create a workforce training center

In conjunction with the Long Island Regional Planning Council and the Suffolk IDA, HIA-LI is pursuing creation of a regional workforce training center to help businesses at the LI-IPH and elsewhere fill skills gaps among their employees. While the center’s location and syllabus are yet to be determined, its establishment stands to help boost the profitability of LI-IPH firms.

HIA-LI won an international marketing award

A 30-second video promoting the LIIPH has won an internationally recognized Telly Award, which honors achievement in the non-broadcast video industry. Watch the video at www.LI-IPH.org

HIA-LI delivers masks for member businesses

HIA-LI recently teamed up with Governor Andrew Cuomo and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone to distribute thousands of reusable masks for use by employees of firms at the LI-IPH and elsewhere across Long Island.  

Become a member

If your company isn’t currently an HIA-LI member, we’d love you to join! We offer vital, real-time information to help your business through this recovery – and to let the business community know you’re open for business. Contact Anthony Forgione at (631) 543-5355 or aforgione@hia-li.org to learn more.

During these unprecedented times, it’s more critical than ever to celebrate Long Island business – and to embrace opportunities to help us connect and do business.

Please join us!

By Creating Jobs, Suffolk IDA Gets the Job Done

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Suffolk-IDA-logo-2Everyone knows the importance of teamwork when it comes to getting things done. In this spirit, I’d like to devote this blog to recognizing one of HIA-LI’s most valued partners, the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency (IDA).  

Across the state, IDAs support business growth, relocation, and expansion by lowering the cost of capital investment. They offer tax incentives – and provide access to various business resources and technical assistance opportunities.

And we’re fortunate to have one of the state’s highest-performing IDA’s right here in Suffolk County.

According to Newsday’s report on an analysis by the State Comptroller, tax incentives provided through Long Island’s industrial development agencies – for four years running – had helped to create more jobs as of 2018 than IDAs in any of the state’s nine other regions.

And here on the Island, the largest number of new jobs – 12,881 – were created by 137 projects supported by the Suffolk County IDA.

HIA-LI regularly works cooperatively with the Suffolk IDA to help fortify the regional economy and trigger employment growth. For example, we collaborated with the Suffolk IDA in April 2019 on a 160-page Opportunity Analysis that helped us identify ways to better link the future success of the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge (LI-IPH) to Long Island’s long-term economic revitalization.

In the Opportunity Analysis, James Lima Planning + Development and the Regional Plan Association concluded that the Park’s future success would be maximized by nurturing the growth and agglomeration of competitive, tradeable industries.

Among other projects, we’ve also joined forces with the Suffolk County IDA and the Long Island Regional Planning Council to advocate for creation of a new, regional workforce development center, possibly situated within the LI-IPH. The center would match its training curricula to the specific workforce needs of our region’s fastest-growing businesses.

The public sector and the private sector need to work cooperatively to help maintain the strength of our local economy. Along these lines, HIA-LI is proud of the successful, long-term partnership we’ve enjoyed with the Suffolk County IDA.

Under the leadership of Chairperson Natalie Wright and Executive Director Anthony Catapano, the Suffolk IDA has been a steadfast partner in promoting job growth and business growth on Long Island. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the unwavering efforts of the Suffolk IDA’s Deputy Executive Director Kelly Morris and former Associate Director John McNally who, with their hard work and dedication, helped to make it all happen.

I hope you’ll stand with me in applauding the Suffolk IDA on its many accomplishments. We look forward to working with them on future joint initiatives.