Andrew Fish: Cayuga gets it!

At today’s Wednesday Morning Roundtable, Andrew Fish shared with interested community leaders an update on the work of the CNY Regional Economic Development Council (REDC). 10 REDCs in New York State compete for $200 million in State funding. $130 million are set aside for capital projects, meaning the selected projects would receive the money right away for equipment, infrastructure, etc. $70 million are as good as cash in the form of tax credits, which will be paid out as soon as the projected employment numbers are reached for the respective projects. $40 million are at stake for the top 4 regions.

The regional strategic plan for CNY was submitted on November 14, containing 30 priority projects that are meant to create almost 2,000 new jobs and leverage over $1 billion in investments. This equates to a public/private investment ratio of 1:28, which is far higher than the required 1:5 ratio set by the State.

What does that mean for Cayuga County? Of the 30 submitted projects, 4 projects are in Cayuga County that are estimated to create over 100 new jobs. A plant expansion project at Currier Plastics would receive $1.75 million in funding and tax credits; the Abbott House would receive a $250,000 capital grant; Cayuga Ingredients would get $1.5 million in capital grants and $2.5 million in tax credits for a milk processing plant in Aurelius; and the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival would receive a capital grant of $751,450.

Fish praised the work of everyone involved, especially the economic development professionals from the city and the county, but also the residents for participating in the various public meetings, which translated into a 33% participation ratio for Cayuga County out of the five counties that make up the region. Fish shared how other counties were looking to Cayuga as a model for collaboration and coming together. He claimed that this was not the case at all in every county or region, but “Cayuga gets it!”

He assured the audience that no matter the outcome of the strategic plan evaluation, which should be completed by the middle of December, Cayuga will move forward with specified projects and continue to work towards the goals outlined in the plan. Fish cautioned that not all of the projects might be funded or maybe just partially, depending on the scoring of the 5-people committee that will be charged with evaluating the plans. However, he reiterated that the $40 million at stake won’t make or break the $32 billion economy of CNY and was confident that CNY will be ranked among the top 4 regions.