Governor Halves Funding for Empire Zones

Governor David Paterson is slashing the funding for New York's most expensive economic development program. He's now requiring that all companies participating in the Empire Zone program to meet tough new investment standards, which will be proposed today in his state budget plan. Empire Zone offers tax breaks to businesses in exchange for development in distressed areas. Governor Paterson is poised to cut half the program's funding: 270-million dollars that benefits 21-hundred companies as the entire program winds down in 2011. Hundreds of hometown businesses are included in those cuts. The Buffalo zone covers four square miles, mainly downtown.