Saratoga County IDA seeks incentives to lure firms to tech park

The Saratoga County Industrial Development Agency is looking for a way to provide some incentives to bring new businesses to the Luther Forest Technology Campus, where no company except GlobalFoundries has set up shop in the decade that tax breaks have been banned there.

The IDA board would offer smaller property tax exemptions than it normally provides in an effort to win support from the town of Malta, where some leaders have worried such benefits cost too much.

The IDA’s general policy is to offer manufacturing companies 10 years of tax-free operation as an incentive to come to Saratoga County; the draft policy would allow as little as a 50 percent tax exemption to be offered in Luther Forest.

The IDA’s move is part of a strategy to break a deadlock that has persisted as the 1,414-acre site remains undeveloped, with the notable exception of the GlobalFoundries computer chip plant.

Whether such reduced incentives would be sufficient to lure companies to the high-profile industrial site is unknown.

The IDA is trying to convince the town of Malta to allow any tax breaks at all. Current zoning prohibits economic development tax breaks in the park, and is blamed for driving businesses to locate elsewhere.

The lack of lot sales since GlobalFoundries bought land in 2009 has driven the Luther Forest Economic Development Corp., which owns the park, to insolvency. It owes Malta $800,000 in road maintenance fees, and has cut its full-time staff.

Malta Town Supervisor Paul Sausville, who has opposed altering the current zoning, continues to argue that new businesses must pay taxes or otherwise compensate the community.

“My position is really to look at it on a case-by-case basis,” Sausville said Monday. “Obviously the school districts have a lot of skin in the game, and it’s important we don’t undermine the schools.”

Sausville said the community impacts of any new businesses at the tech campus should be studied before any tax breaks are considered.

It isn’t clear, however, whether Sausville speaks for a majority of the Malta Town Board. The Town Board hasn’t had a recent public discussion of the matter.

Stillwater officials have said they’re willing to change Luther Forest’s zoning if Malta does.

The draft incentive policy was adopted at an IDA meeting Monday morning in Ballston Spa, and was presented to a subcommittee of involved county, town and private officials trying to resolve the tech campus’ problems later in the morning. The subcommittee had no immediate decision.

“We’re looking at how we can partner with Malta and Stillwater to move forward, given that right now there are nine empty [development lots],” said county Board of Supervisors Chairman Alan R. Grattidge, R-Charlton.

Under the draft policy adopted Monday, the IDA could offer something between a full tax exemption and a 50 percent exemption for the first five years a company operates at the park, and from no exemption to a 100 percent exemption in the second five years.

A decision on how big the incentive package would be would depend on the number and quality of jobs created and other factors.

The IDA’s offer is just a starting point for negotiations.

“The Malta folks aren’t 100 percent sold on any period of full exemption. This is really a starting point,” said Wilton Supervisor Arthur Johnson, who is the IDA’s representative on the subcommittee.

The subcommittee consists of Grattidge, Johnson, Luther Forest Technology Campus EDC Chairman Tom Roohan, GlobalFoundries representative Greg Connor, Stillwater Supervisor Ed Kinowski and Malta Town Board members Tara Thomas and Maggi Ruisi.

The subcommittee’s work overlaps with talks that would have Saratoga County take over technology campus roads now owned by the town; in return, the county wants the town zoning changed to allow incentives.

Grattidge said the subcommittee was formed out of ongoing large-group meetings involving staff from U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko’s office and various players in the Luther Forest effort.

The two towns in 2004 prohibited property tax incentives in the zoning that created the technology campus. At the time, it was thought not to be an obstacle to development; the state’s Empire Zone program would reimburse companies for the local property taxes they paid.

The Empire Zone, however, expired in 2010, and no similar incentive program has replaced it. The zoning provision has remained.

“The campus is the only land within Saratoga County, the region and most likely the entire state where a business is legally prohibited from requesting tax abatements,” IDA CEO Larry Benton wrote in an explanation of the draft policy. “This has the effect of placing the campus in a non-competitive position.”

The IDA is also proposing that the campus’ zoning’s focus on nanotechnology be broadened, and be changed to allow solar and wind power, biotechnology, medical instrument, information technology and telecommunications businesses.

“By opening up the zoning to allow a greater range of technology industries, the town and county could create a real synergy within the campus where each business location builds on the potential of attracting additional businesses that draw on a similar workforce and support systems,” Benton said.

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