Ideal Snacks moves forward with zone status

Lawmakers: a job without healthcare is better than no job

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — All the lawmakers agreed that the company makes good products, and has been a good neighbor in the community around Liberty where the company has existed for 10 years. But there were questions about whether providing a living wage and health care benefits to all of its employees are prerequisite for a publicly funded tax subsidy.

The matter came up again at a meeting of the Sullivan County Community and Economic Development Committee on June 12 when the company’s chief financial officer, Joseph Talmage Jr., put in an appearance to answer questions about the company.

Ideal is seeking to become a “regionally significant project” in the Empire Zone (EZ) program, and seeks to create 50 new jobs over the next 10 years. The company, which currently employs 230 workers, needs support from the legislature for the bid to move forward. When lawmakers discussed the subject in May, several of them were critical of the company because it won’t provide health care benefits to most of the new employees.

Lawmaker Jodi Goodman, whose district includes Liberty, said it was “unfair to single them out when there are other companies in the Empire Zone doing the same thing.”

Lawmaker Leni Binder said that the jobs for “line workers” were better than no job at all for those who would get them, even though she agreed that there is a need to provide healthcare to the uninsured. “By all means at the national level, let’s advocate for national health care.”

Lawmaker Ron Hiatt was not as quick to side with Ideal. He said, “Many times, I have heard that we want to have businesses that provide a living wage, not just a prevailing wage; and not have businesses that are supported by social services, such as Medicaid and food stamps.” He questioned how much the 40 line workers would be paid and whether they would be offered health insurance. The answer was that the jobs would pay $8.00 to $10.00 per hour with no health benefits, but employees would have a chance to move higher in the company to receive higher wages and benefits.

Richard Imprescia, a consultant who appeared at the meeting with Talmage, said that there are 98 regionally significant Empire Zone projects in the state, and most of them involve factory workers. He said, “So these jobs traditionally are not the ones that are getting the medical benefits.” He argued, however, that the main goal of the EZ program was the creation of jobs, which Ideal was committed to.

Several lawmakers said that the responsibility of altering the EZ program to provide tax incentives for companies that create jobs with health care benefits lies at the state level of government, not at the county level.

The lawmakers voted unanimously to schedule a public hearing on the matter of moving Ideal into the EZ program. It will be held on June 19, at 1:40 p.m. in the government center in Monticello.