Table of Contents
Miscellaneous
• From The Publishers
• Last Look: Syd Farber
Cover Story:
Where’s Everybody Going?
What’s causing some small businesses to pack up and leave? And what should we
be doing to stop them?
Feature Story:
The Excessive Costs
of Doing Business in New York
A productive Small Business Day in Albany, but worries still exist for Rockland-ites and other New York based businesses.
Feature Story:
How’d They Do That?
Follow Provident Bank CEO George Strayton’s strategies for success.
DEPARTMENTS:
Economics Roundup
• The Smart Investor
• Money Talk
Business Roundup
• Unlock Your Potential
• Marketing By Design
Retail Round-Up
• Talking Shop
• Odds & Ends
Ask the Expert
• Estate Planning
• Mortgage Advice
Invest in Your Community
• The Bottom Line
• First Annual Non-profit Leadership Summit
Dedicated Section:
Rockland Business Association:
The President’s Desk
A new voice for Rockland County and a new advocate for its hottest issues and concerns.
Pinnacles of Success
RBA’s best honored at the
Third Annual Pinnacle Awards.
RBA Happenings
• Committee and Council Info
• Calendar of Events
• New Members
From
The
President’s Desk
A
New Voice for Rockland County
Rockland Business Digest a new access point for county business
Although there are a number of publications covering a variety of aspects of life in Rockland, there are none dedicated to the coverage of our business community. Ours is a vibrant, healthy business environment, but it is under attack from many who would diminish our ability to grow existing businesses and attract new companies. With the introduction of the Rockland Business Digest, we now have a wide-circulation, business publication that will allow you access to the information you need to make the decisions necesssary to grow and thrive in Rockland.
The RBA will continue to provide you with our weekly, On-Line Newsletter, but The Digest will allow us to be in the hands of an even larger audience. The issues that have been championed by the RBA on behalf of the membership, will now have an appropriate vehicle through which we can take our message to the entire business community.
It is imperative that all Rockland businesses know of the battles that we have fought (and are still fighting) on their behalf. For example: For the past eight years, the RBA has been the strongest voice for competitive broadband infrastructure; we were the first to advocate for a new Tappan Zee Bridge with a one-seat, dual-track rail component into New York City; we have been the staunchest adversary of the living wage movement and the leading advocate for a regional perspective with regard to how we conduct business.
Currently, we are involved in statewide issues that could have dramatic negative impact on Rockland businesses. There is a movement from the Working Families Party to enact a new health tax on business that the National Federation of Independent Business has labelled “government-assisted economic suicide.” It would require companies with more than 100 employees to pay a mandatory $3 per hour/per worker health tax. If enacted, there are at least 14 Rockland companies that could reasonably be seen leaving the County when their leases are up. On a statewide basis, this legislation could cost New York businesses $9.2 billion. That’s not a typo, that’s “billion.”
There is another initiative that would redistribute income from health insurers with plans in nine New York City suburban counties (including Rockland) and turn it over to hospitals for their IT needs. These dollars would be used to fund a $67 million a year pool for each of the next four years—for a total of $268 million. We’re all for upgraded IT systems, but this becomes a new tax that would translate into higher premiums for our businesses. The RBA has made significant inroads in our effort to thwart the movement of this legislation. This was an issue that your colleagues carried to Albany on Small Business Day. We should all be thanking Howard Hellman, Scott Liebert, Bob Salmon, Lou Silver and Mitch Kahn for their efforts.
We continue to press for much needed reform to our workers’ comp system, reform of the “scaffold law” and repeal of the Wicks law. And, the anti-business groups now are going after our industrial development agencies, seeking to impede their ability to encourage and support economic development. We’re getting ready to fight this one, too.
Our ability to be successful in these endeavors is dependent upon our being able to keep you informed. The Rockland Business Digest will help us do that. Our success also is dependent upon your support. We need your membership and we need you to encourage other businesses to join. The larger our numbers, the louder our voice, the better able we are to influence the folks in New City and Albany
.
Al Samuels
President/CEO
Rockland Business Association
