Weekly Update of Happenings & Business Tips for Chamber Members January 20, 2010

Chamber Member Good News

• Thank you to Christman Motors and WCDO Radio for hosting their 6th Annual Business After Hours last night.
  
• Good luck to Margaret Boice, Deputy Superintendent, Norwich City Schools, who will be leaving the district after 15 years to accept a position in the Ithaca City School District. We wish her the best of luck in her new endeavors!
  
• Your news could be here!

STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR DAVID A. PATERSON AND
MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG
This afternoon New York State's Race to the Top application was filed with the federal government.

"Today is a sad day for the children of New York, for the tens of thousands of students on wait lists for charter schools and for the thousands more who need and deserve better educational choices. We are disappointed that we may now miss out on an opportunity to receive unprecedented federal funding for our schools and our children. It is unthinkable that after being advised to make specific changes to enhance our application, the Legislative Leaders could not come to an agreement on legislation that would have significantly increased our competitiveness.

"Filing this application is in the best interest of New York's 3 million schoolchildren and the people of New York. We have been offered a rare opportunity to receive unprecedented federal funding for our schools and our children when we need it most. As we have said throughout this process, our application is strong. But given the competitive nature of this selection process, we believe that the State Legislature should have joined our efforts to do everything in our power to ensure that New York is a true competitor for Race to the Top grants. It is incumbent upon us as lawmakers to take any and all action necessary to succeed in a process that would reap up to $700 million in funds for education.

"On behalf of the City and the State, we want to thank Senator Dean Skelos for his efforts to pass this important legislation. In addition, we would like to thank Senators Craig Johnson, Ruben Diaz Sr., and members of the Senate Republican Conference, Assembly members Sam Hoyt and Brian Kolb and members of the Assembly Republican Conference and the other legislators who supported the Governor's legislation which offered our State the greatest opportunity to receive Round 1 Race to the Top funding. Since introducing that bill on January 7th, the Governor met on several occasions with the Legislative Leaders, there were numerous staff meetings and the Governor's office was open to negotiations. The Governor revised the legislation to reflect many of the concerns raised by the Leaders and their members. But, those efforts were not met halfway by our Legislative Leaders. It was not until the 11th hour that Legislative Leaders, without notice or negotiation, submitted their own! bill on the Race to the Top competition - a bill that would ultimately have undermined the improvement that the Race to the Top grants intend to achieve.

"Race to the Top provides an unprecedented opportunity to reform our schools and challenge an educational status quo that is failing too many children. President Obama and Congress have provided significant financial support for school reform. This is a chance to change our schools and to accelerate student achievement, and we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that we are more than eligible to receive as much federal funding as possible as this process continues."

New York’s Executive Budget Summary
New York Governor David Paterson unveiled his 2010-2011 Executive Budget yesterday. Totaling $134 billion, his proposal is aimed at closing a projected $7.4 billion deficit in the current budget year, as well as setting the stage for reducing future-year deficits of $14.3 billion in 2011-12, $18.3 billion in 2012-13, and $20.7 billion in 2013-14.

Taxes and Fees
The Executive Budget contains $1.0 billion in tax and fee increases, including:
A franchise fee plan to allow grocery stores to sell wine. Revenue from these new fees is projected to generate $92 million in the coming year.
A new excise tax on syrup used in soft drinks and other beverages ($465 million).
A $1 per pack increase in cigarette taxes ($218 million).
Assessments on health care providers ($216 million).
"Improved" audit and compliance/tax enforcement actions ($221 million).
Extending the hours of operation for video lottery terminals/VLT's ($45 million)
A new severance tax on natural gas production.
Deployment of speed enforcement cameras ($32.9 million).

Medical/Health Care
If no action was taken to control costs, the Governor says total federal, state and county Medicaid spending would reach $53.1 billion in 2010-2011, increasing more than 5%. The Executive Budget proposes $1.9 billion in "gap closing" measures in health care. The Governor says his proposals focus on establishing "more rational and cost-effective reimbursement to produce better care at lower costs."

State Workforce
Through a series of initiatives by the Paterson Administration in recent months - including a hiring freeze, attrition efforts, the elimination of many vacant positions and a $20,000 severance bonus - the state workforce has been reduced by 5,150 since March 2008. Average compensation for a State employee is $63,750. Governor Paterson proposes additional actions to reduce payroll and fringe benefit expenses.

Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM)
The AIM program is the single largest program of state aid to local governments. The Executive Budget proposes $325 million in savings from this program, primarily by eliminating AIM assistance to the City of New York and by reducing payments to other local governments by between 2%-5%, based on the amount of AIM funding a particular community receives. The Governor says some of the impact in the AIM program reductions can be offset by other initiatives, including a moratorium on unfunded mandates, and proposals to limit growth in programs which require counties to cost-share.

Economic Development
The Executive Budget proposal contains a familiar proposal to restructure the State's economic development activities by merging DED and ESDC into the New York State Job Development Corporation (JDC). This merger is intended to improve the effectiveness of programs and streamline delivery of services. This consolidation would also save $4.7 million annually by integrating operations and eliminating duplicative functions. NYSTAR would continue its work in partnership with the new JDC.
The Executive budget proposes the establishment of three new economic development programs: -- Excelsior Jobs Program, Small Business Revolving Loan Fund, and New Technology Seed Fund.

What's Next for the Budget?
Under New York's budget-making process, the Governor develops and proposes to the Legislature a comprehensive, balanced budget proposal. The Governor also has a period of time - 21 days - during which he can actually amend his formal budget proposal. Over the next several weeks, the Legislature will hold a series of joint public hearings on the proposal - by agency/issue area - and then negotiations with the Governor usually commence. These hearings will begin on January 25th, and the final hearing is scheduled to be held on February 10th.

To read the rest of the report visit http://www.unshackleupstate.com/news/index.cfm?page=256

Tips for Growing Your Business
Don’t “friend” your employees on social networking sites, warns employment attorney Michael Schmidt. Doing so can trigger or exacerbate a host of legal claims, including harassment, discrimination or wrongful termination, as well as touch off cries of favoritism if the boss friends only select employees. Given that social networking sites are loaded with personal information, a manager is bound to learn things about an employee that he or she will wish the boss didn’t know. Moreover, the worker now has the opportunity to argue that any later adverse employment decision was based on the personal information. Source: www.law.com

OTHER NEWS

Promote your Organization’s products or services for just $35!
Call Rachel today at 334-1402 to find out how!

Paychex Offers HR Solutions
Samuel Giardina, Benefits Consultant with Paychex will be in our area the January 27th and February 2nd to meet with business owners to help with benefit, payroll, and HR questions and concerns. Feel free to contact him at 315.453.6200 x-55730 to set up an appointment to find out how Paychex can be our total solution.

Member Happenings
January 31, 2010—Bridal Expo 2010 @ Howard Johnson’s, 75 North Broad Street, Norwich. Meet with area vendors, see the latest in bridal and tuxedo fashions, and win fabulous prizes and more! 1-4:00 p.m. Call Celebration Creations for more information at 607.267.8541.
Do you have a grand opening or event you would like to share? Call Audrey at 334-1429.

Save the Date…

January 27th
Your Business and Marcellus Shale Webinar -- “Local Business Success Stories, Lessons Learned”
Location: Commerce Chenango Conference Room, 2nd Floor, Eaton Center, Norwich
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Sponsored by: Commerce Chenango, Cornell University Cooperative Extension:Chenango County and Penn State Extension education.
For more information or to reserve your spot, please RSVP by Jan. 22nd to Jennifer Tavares.

January 28th
Notary Public Workshop sponsored by Commerce Chenango
Location: Chamber Offices, 19 Eaton Ave. (2nd Floor) Norwich
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Reservations are required. Don’t wait until the last minute! Seats sold out the last time this was offered. Call today! 334-1402 or email Rachel.

February 3rd
Your Business and Marcellus Shale Webinar -- “Working with the Industry, Natural Gas Company Perspectives”
Location: Commerce Chenango Conference Room, 2nd Floor, Eaton Center, Norwich
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Sponsored by: Commerce Chenango, Cornell University Cooperative Extension:Chenango County and Penn State Extension education.
For more information or to reserve your spot, please RSVP by February 1st to Jennifer Tavares.

February 10th
Economic Forecast Breakfast sponsored by NBT Bank
Location: Howard Johnson’s Ballroom
Time: 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Kent Gardner, Ph.D., President & Chief Economist will be our keynote speaker. His area of expertise is
economics and public finance and also has experience assessing the economic and fiscal impacts of major developments, institutions or policy changes on communities, regions and the state. Dr. Gardner serves on Governor David Paterson's Council of Economic Advisors.

Reservations are required. Please RSVP by February 5th to Rachel.

*Articles provided in the Chamber Memo are for informational purposes only and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Chamber.*