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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 12, 2004

SCHUMER, CLINTON SECURE RENEWAL COMMUNITY EXPANSION THAT MAKES MORE OF ROCHESTER ELIGIBLE FOR SPECIAL TAX BREAKS

Senators: HUD Renewal Community designation will help local efforts to attract new investment and jobs to Rochester with tax incentives worth an estimated $400 million

Washington, DC - Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced that legislation to increase the size of New York’s “Renewal Communities” was passed by the Senate late last night. The move could drastically increase the area included in the Rochester renewal community, providing important tax incentives and development initiatives worth an estimated $400 million to New Yorkers and New York businesses. The amendment, which was included as part of the JOBS Bill, changes the boundaries for Renewal Community eligibility to reflect population and poverty rate data from the 2000 Census rather than the 1990 Census, in some cases more than doubling the size of the existing Renewal Community areas.

“This is great news. At a time when the economy is uncertain, this designation is going to be a real shot in the arm for the region,” Schumer said. “Washington is always being accused of not paying enough attention to Upstate New York. But today, the tax credits and benefits that have been used to lure businesses to Rochester are closer to helping even more local neighborhoods. This would invite more and more businesses to think seriously about coming to the Rochester/Finger Lakes area, which is just what the doctor ordered.”

“When I hosted a statewide Renewal Community symposium of mayors and elected officials in Schenectady earlier this year, it was clear that these changes were urgently needed,” Senator Clinton said. “The Renewal Community program brings with it a wide range of significant economic development and tax incentives for businesses, but its positive effects can be felt way beyond the immediate area of designation. This is great step towards ensuring that all corners of New York State benefit from progress and prosperity.”

The language included in the JOBS bill last night enables the Department of Housing and Urban Development to;
Expand the area of a Renewal Community to include any area that now meets the population or poverty rate requirement based on 2000 Census data
Add an adjacent area that meets all requirements except the population requirement.

This legislation would make it possible - based on 2000 Census data - for Renewal Communities in Buffalo-Lackawanna, Jamestown, Niagara Falls, Rochester and Schenectady to drastically increase their designated Renewal Community zones and provide substantive benefits in more areas. For example:
Buffalo-Lackawanna could increase from 24 census tracts to roughly 60 census tracts
Jamestown could double in size from 2 to 4 census tracts of the city
Niagara Falls could more than triple from 3 to 11 census tracts
Rochester could add 18 census tracts
Schenectady could at least triple its number of census tracts

The Senators have long pushed to allow the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to designate additional areas within New York as Renewal Communities and use the most recent census data available to calculate eligibility.

The Renewal Communities program provides incentives to 40 areas nationwide that are in need of economic redevelopment. These areas receive tax credits such as work opportunity tax credits and welfare-to-work tax credits, as well as tax deductions (on property, revitalization and cleanup costs) for companies located within qualifying census tracts and employing residents of those tracts.
Key incentives aimed at spurring investment in Renewal Communities include:
• Zero capital gains on the rate of sales of certain assets held for more than five years.
• Increased small business expensing (up to an additional $35,000).
• 15% employment wage credit (first $10,000 in annual income for each worker).
• Commercial revitalization deductions for taxpayers who revitalize buildings in a Renewal Community.

Final passage of the JOBS Bill is still pending in the House of Representatives.

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