pCANTON — After a rundown of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s State of the State Address, Deputy Secretary of State for Local Government Deirdre K. Scozzafava fielded several questions about how the governor’s plan would affect the north country. One topic that was highlighted by St. Lawrence County Legislature Chair John H. Burke, R-Norfolk, was economic impact for Northern New York./pp“I do think we have a unique set of challenges here in St. Lawrence County,” Mr. Burke said. “I think the challenge for the county is we don’t have Wall Street revenue. Our ability to generate revenue is extremely limited, it’s a poor county, and as we face the challenges of trying to grow, we don’t have the money for it.”/ppMr. Burke further voiced his concerns by saying the New York Power Authority economic development report released last week has pointed out some solutions for upstate economy, but wants to know where more relief might come from./pp“I’m just wondering about the help and revenue to grow the economy and help create jobs so that our tax base will have the same latitude that maybe the state has so that we’re spending less, but at least we have more revenue coming in,” he said./ppMs. Scozzafava responded by explaining that there are several factors, including geography that make it difficult to grow the upstate economy, but said Gov. Cuomo is very focused on the north country./pp“The goal is to expand the tax base, and the goal is to make vibrant regional economies,” she said./pp“This governor understands rural economies,” Ms. Scozzafava continued. “The important thing is, at the same time the governor is saying we need to control the spending, he’s also trying to give regions the tools to help build your economies.”/ppMs. Scozzafava said the Regional Economic Development Council was put together to provide suggestions for furthering the area, and that they were being heard./ppShe said projects such as expanding broadband, more college funding and adding new tourism infrastructure, and new hotels in the Adirondacks, have been steps toward helping the north country. Broadband expansion is high on Gov. Cuomo’s to-do list, as he spent $500 million last year, with a private match of $500 million./pp“None of those examples alone outside of broadband might seem transformative, but they’re things that are being put in a tool box to try to grow this economy,” Ms. Scozzafava said./ppShe also commended the governor’s work at keeping Alcoa in the north country, and how maintaining current business is also vital to the upstate economy./pp“Never have I seen a governor hit as hard at that Alcoa situation as he did,” Ms. Scozzafava said. “We live to fight another day because of that./pp“I know it’s retention versus creation, but as long as we can retain, we’ve got a little time.”/p
↧