Paterson, WNY officials talk development - Memphis Business Journal:

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Paterson came to the Clarence headquarters Wednesday afternoohn to rally support forhis “Bold Steps to the New initiative. Greatbatch, which recently expandefd in Clarence after considering options elsewhere is the posterr child for the economic development agendq Patersonis pushing. He held similar roundtablee discussions earlier this week in Albanyand Syracuse. Patersonb met with 21 local leaders and executivesw ranging from University at Buffalo Presidentf John Simpson and Erie County Executive Chris Collinas toMark Dettner, managing director and founder. “I came here todat to listen as muchas talk,” Paterson said.
Paterson’ss appearance came against the backdrop of political firestornm in Albany with a battle for political controol of the New YorkState Paterson, during his hour-long roundtables meeting with the executives stayef focused on economic development Politics, however, did serves as a background. “There is a time to address these Paterson told reporters afterthe “I’m not sure why we are just hearing aboutg this problem now.” Collins, who has run or startexd a dozen local companies, said politics does impact how the business communith views the Paterson government.
“Unless you removd the stigma of New York beingthe highest-taxed all the spinoff jobs you want to create with this progran will end up in other states,” the count y executive warned. “Tom Golisano is simply the tip ofthe Golisano, in late May, renounced his New York residencuy and made Florida his officialp home because of New York’s heavy tax burdeh on upper class citizens. Golisano, the Rochester-base d billionaire, said the move will save him morethan $5 millionm annually in state income taxes. Collins said the high cost of state-ruj programs such as Medicare contribute toNew York’s taxinvg structure.
Out-of-date, union-friendly mandates like the Taylor Law, which offersz certain guarantees forunion workers, add to the tax “We don’t want to see the innovations createdx here but the jobs they create go to Collins said. Paterson agrees New York has to “cutf its infectious ways of State programs are leading to aprojected $24 billion deficity this year. Paterson, through the discussion, also heardf repeated pleas tosupport UB’ds 2020 plan that many see as a linchpin to the region’ws economic revival.
The UB plan calls for significantg investment in its Buffalo and Amherst campuses while increasing its presenc e indowntown Buffalo’s Buffalo Niagara Medical Simpson said UB 2020 represents a potentialo of $3 billion in new investmenty in the region while creating 10,000 new jobs. The catch is, the initiativew needs significant state legislative andfinancial “We need to get UB 2020 out of the startingv block,” said Thomas Hook, Greatbatch president and chief executivde officer.
Hook credited a close alliancse with UB as the sourced of the many patents and medical industr products that Greatbatch has created during the pastfive “A lot of the success Greatbatch enjoyed has come from innovations that startef from UB,” Hook said.