Lawmakers clash over Ideal Snacks & Empire Zone

Plant tour planned, resolution passed

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — Jodi Goodman is insulted. Fellow lawmaker Ron Hiatt wants to bring an interpreter to a planned tour of the Ideal Snacks factory in Liberty.

When Goodman protested the question, Hiatt replied, “I haven’t been living under a rock.” He said it was well known that some plant employees only speak Spanish.

The exchange came at the Sullivan County Community and Economic Development Committee meeting at the government center on July 3. The committee was once again discussing the designation of Ideal Snacks as a regionally significant project within the Empire Zone (EZ) program, which would grant the company significant tax breaks for creating 50 new jobs in the next two to five years.

Before that can happen, the board must pass a local law to amend the EZ boundaries in the county. A public hearing on the law is scheduled for July 17 at 1:30 p.m. at the Legislative Hearing Room on the second floor of the government center. A resolution to pass the law was considered in advance of the public hearing in order to allow lawmakers to pass the law this month, immediately after the public hearing takes place.

Hiatt asked why action was needed so soon.

Susan Jaffe, commissioner of Community and Economic Development, said that the company plans to hire 12 new employees in August and, if the law is not passed before then, the company won’t be able to take advantage of the EZ tax breaks.

In advocating for the passage of the law, Goodman said that officials from the Town of Liberty and the Village of Liberty both supported moving the company into the EZ program.

David Fanslau, the county manager, told lawmakers that because of the tax incentives provided by the Industrial Development Agency, Ideal Snacks is currently not paying real estate taxes, but is instead making a smaller payment in lieu of taxes. He said that if the company joins the EZ program, the company’s payments would go up 200 percent to full-market value of the plant property.

Hiatt wanted to know if the new employees would be eligible for Medicaid benefits. Jaffe said that employees would make too much money, from $8 to $10 per hours, to qualify for Medicaid. But, she said, they might be eligible for the Family Health Plus program run by New York State for low-income workers.

Roberta Byron Lockwood, president and CEO of the Sullivan County Visitors Association, said that it would likely cost the county far more to provide services to the employees if they had no jobs.

Hiatt responded that her assertion assumed that the people would be in the county if the jobs were not available.

The committee members voted to pass the resolution, although it still must be passed by the full board.

Lawmakers are scheduled to take a tour of the plant on July 15 at 4:00 p.m.

Hiatt said he will be taking an interpreter.