Chamber Today
Delaware County Chamber of Commerce
40 years of service to the area's business community
INSURANCE COSTS CONTINUE TO ESCALATE
Rapidly rising health-care costs are forcing employers in New York State to pay double-digit premium increases, as well as to scale back benefits and pass a larger share of the rising costs on to employees.
The increase in workers' burden comes even though more than seven in 10 employers themselves shouldered double-digit increases in premiums regardless of what kind of insurance they offered and the percentage of New York State employers are asking their workers to pay more of the costs of health insurance continues to increase significantly.
"Albany needs to reconsider health-insurance mandates and other misguided state policies that drive both employers' and workers' costs higher, stated Mary Beth Silano, Executive Director of the Delaware County Chamber.
ìWe are very concerned for the people and business communities of Delaware County with the continuous escalation in costs to insurance, stated Mary Beth Silano, Executive Director. Insurance rates increase on an annual basis, and again, this upcoming year is no different, stated Silano.
ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE
Disaster Relief
If you or your business sustained damages from the severe storms, flooding and tornadoes occurring between July 21st and August 13th you may be eligible for federal and state disaster aid.
For more information please contact the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, the Department of Economic Development, or FEMA (1-800-621-3362 or TDD 1-800-462-7585).
First Stop Shop is Up and Running!
The Directory of Catskill Region Assistance Providers was created in response to a recommendation made by the regional business community to ìcreate a one-stop shop where business people and prospective business owners can get information about funding sources, regulatory and permit requirements, employee training services, business plan development assistance and other guidance provided by governmental agencies, chambers of commerce and other groups.î A toll-free phone service established to answer inquiries and provide referrals tot hose in need of assistance as described. The First Stop Shop, which is operated from the Catskill Watershed Corporation in Margaretville, can be reached by calling 1-866-300-3020 and is open Monday to Friday during business hours.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
Main Street Revitalization
The Delaware County Department of Economic Development announced that it has received a $289,000 grant from the Governorís Office for Small Cities to fund a Main Street Revitalization Program for the next two years. The purpose of the Main Street Revitalization Program is to aid the small businesses community in their efforts to re-establish main street as the commercial center of Delaware Countyís villages and hamlets. This program will seek to encourage the development of new small business ventures and private sector investment in main street commercial locations throughout Delaware County. Through this program, building renovation grants and low-interest loans will be made available to both new and existing business owners as an incentive for establishing or investing in their ìmain streetî business.
The building renovation grants will provide a maximum of $5,000 to help finance capital improvements to the interior or exterior of main street commercial buildings. The building renovation grants will be awarded to eligible businesses twice each year, in both 2004 and 2005. The Department will announce the availability of funds two months prior to each round of funding. Grants will be made on a reimbursement basis and will require a minimum of a 50/50 match by the applicant.
Low-interest loans of up to $25,000 will also be made available to new and existing main street businesses. The loan funds may be used for the acquisition or renovation of main street buildings, the purchase of machinery and equipment, and/or working capital. Applicants will be required to demonstrate job creation or retention through the use of the loan proceeds. The Delaware County Local Development Corporation has additionally committed $100,000 to fully capitalize this loan fund.
The Main Street Revitalization program seeks to build upon the success of the MSRP Pilot program operated in 2002 and 2003. The Pilot program, funded by the Delaware County IDA, Delaware National Bank and NBT Bank, provided 12 grants totaling $40,000 to Delaware County businesses. These funds, in turn, generated an additional private sector investment of over $200,000 by those main street businesses. Likewise, it is anticipated that the Main Street Revitalization program will result in over a $1 million investment in the Countyís villages and hamlets by private sector entrepreneurs and business owners.
For further information, or to schedule a presentation at a local chamber meeting please contact: The Delaware County Department of Economic Development, 97 Main Street, Suite 1; Delhi, NY 13753 or phone (607) 746-8595.
Workforce Development Programs
The Business Growth Task Force is ready to be a part of your recruitment, retention and training team. Through the Delaware County Office of Employment and Training, we offer a variety of programs that can be tailored to meet your workforce development needs. Every case is individual and personalized attention is given to each business. The Office of Employment & Training, working in conjunction with the CDO Workforce Investment Board, has currently identified several workforce development initiatives that will assist your business in meeting your employee training needs.
The H-1B Technical Skills Training grant program is designed to help train workers in the high technology skills that businesses require. Businesses participating in the H-1B program will be able to increase the productivity of their current workers; retrain workers in new skills; decrease turnover by advancing employee careers; and, ultimately, save money. This program focuses on three skill areas: technology, healthcare and education. The types of training funded through this program will include short-term training that results in recognized skills attainment levels, one year certificates, associates and bachelor degrees and various industry recognized certificates. Employers whose workers are eligible to participate will be offered grants of up to $3,000 to offset the cost of training.
Another workforce training program, E-Learning, is a self-paced training program delivered over the Internet. Through low-cost access to the available E-Learning courses, employees can receive access to a variety of workforce development training programs including; 450 soft skills courses (management, supervisory skills, communication, etc.) or 200 desktop application courses (Word, Excel, etc.). All courses are tracked for completion and reports provided to companies. E-Learning implementation training and on-going support will also be provided to participating businesses.
To obtain more information on E-Learning: please review the NY Wired web site for course descriptions (www.nywired.org) and contact the Delaware County Office of Employment and Training at (607) 746-7477.
FOCUS ON CATSKILLS AGRICULTURE
An international interdisciplinary team of experienced professionals will be visiting Delaware County and the surrounding area for a week-long ìexchangeî focusing on agricultural issues in the region from October 17th to 24th. During the exchange week, the team ñ selected by the non-profit Glynwood Center and sponsored by the Watershed Agricultural Council will visit farms, meet with community and government leaders, and talk to farmers with the goal of providing recommendations from their experience in saving farmland and creating profitable farm businesses.
The exchange team will be focusing their recommendations in four key areas: developing strategies to protect existing agricultural land resources in the Catskills, assisting farmers in diversifying their farm businesses to keep a working productive landscape, enhancing and creating processing and distribution infrastructures to support family farms, and developing marketing initiatives that return additional profits to local farmers.
As part of the exchange itinerary, the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce is hosting an informal reception from 4 to 6PM on Monday, October 20th at the Andes Hotel on Main Street in Andes. The reception will focus on past and present efforts to promote agri-tourism in the region, and a question and answer period about how the tourism industry in the Catskills can be used to support agricultural land protection. Local chamber representatives and business owners, particularly agri-tourism related businesses, are encouraged to attend.
At the end of the week, on the evening of Thursday, October 23rd the exchange team will present their overall findings and recommendations at a public meeting at SUNY Delhi. For more information in the exchange, and how you can get involved, call Amy Kenyon at the Watershed Agricultural Council at (607) 865-7790.
NEW MEMBER BENEFIT
The Delaware County Chamber of Commerce has entered into a relationship with Allstate Insurance Company to bring you a program of workplace benefits that you can now offer to your employees through payroll deduction. This program will be administrated for Allstate through J. Bramley and Associates of Delhi.
Allstate offers chamber members and their employees, special programs of life and disability insurance along with a new cancer program that will pay for any additional expenses that may be incurred due to a cancer related illness.
During the month of October, The Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, along with Bob Haggerty from Allstate will be holding a series of Breakfast Meetings to introduce these new products. All breakfast meetings will begin at 8:30 am at the following locations:
Margaretville, October 16th, Summerfields Restaurant, Main Street
Stamford, October 23, To be Announced
For further information, please call Mary Beth Silano at 607-746-2281.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS WORKSHOP
Demand Aggregation is a process where large commercial or business users such as schools, hospitals, governmental organizations and large business concerns ìpoolî their individual needs into a much larger market and are able t jointly negotiate with telecommunication service providers for services at affordable rates. It is a strategy which could help rural communities demonstrate their attractiveness to the providers of telecommunications services and thereby provide an incentive for the provision of broadband services.
Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Senior Telecommunications Advisor, Harry L. Roesch, will give a 2 hour telecommunications demand aggregation workshop. His ARC workshop will outline how 6 different communities, using 6 unique ìsparkplugî organizations and individuals each with very different strategies were successful in bringing high-speed telecommunication services to their communities.
The Telecommunications Workshop will be held on October 21, 2003, The Holiday Inn, Oneonta, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. There is a $15 registration fee for workshop materials and lunch.
For further information or to register, please call Carolyn Williams, Southern Tier East Regional Planning Development at 607-724-1327, ext. 205
CATSKILL WATERSHED CORPORATION UPDATE
CWC Signs Community Wastewater Program Contract
The Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) Board of Directors voted to approve a contract with New York City in which the CWC would administer a new $10 million Community Wastewater Management Program. The contract now goes to the City for approval.
The program will establish community septic systems or septic maintenance districts in up to five hamlets identified as needing wastewater handling systems. It is funded by the City as a condition to the Filtration Avoidance Determination issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 2002.
The 1997 New York City Watershed Memorandum of Agreement listed 22 communities in need of wastewater handling systems. Seven communities were identified as priority projects and funds have already been provided or committed for wastewater treatment solutions for them under the New Infrastructure Program. The five hamlets whose needs will be addressed under the new Community Wastewater Management Program will be drawn from the remaining 15 communities on the MOA list.
The CWC will act as program manager and will hire a consultant to run the program. It will solicit, in order of their MOA priority listing, the interest of up to five communities. Contracts will be developed with participating communities, after which a one-year study phase will commence, when feasibility, technical, planning and implementation issues of the preferred projects, and their budgets, will be determined. Preliminary studies, conducted by the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp under the New Infrastructure Program, will be utilized as the basis for these more detailed investigations. Options include community septic systems, in which wastewater from buildings is channeled to a common leach field for treatment; or septic maintenance districts, in which regular pump-outs and maintenance of existing residential septic systems is provided.
community wastewater handling system is being piloted in the hamlet of Bovina Center, where 60 households are expected to be hooked up to a common leach field in a project to commence in 2004. ìThis is a good way to control pollution and protect homeowners from the cost of replacing failed septic systems,î said Charles LaFever, former supervisor of Bovina and chairman of the CWCís Wastewater Committee. Here in Bovina we have many young families and retirees. Itís a tremendous expense to fix a failed system, and this new facility will help them avoid that. In other business at its August 26 meeting, the CWC Board approved three low-interest loans from the Catskill Fund for the Future. These loans will enable the addition of 27 full- and part-time jobs:
- Titan Drilling of Arkville will receive funds to help purchase Hydrofacing equipment which increases well yields. The equipment and operators are currently subcontracted from a Massachusetts company.
- J&W Associates (Jennifer Slauson and William Brew) of Roxbury were awarded a loan to purchase the Hitching Post restaurant in Grand Gorge, with plans to reopen the six-room inn and establish a liquor store in a separate building on the property.
- Town of Sidney Operating Hospital will receive a loan of $100,000 to enable it to purchase equipment for the set up of new specialties in urology and obstetrics/gynecology.
The Catskill Watershed Corp. is a non-profit, Local Development Corporation established by the 1997 New York City Watershed Memorandum of Agreement to develop and administer several environmental protection, economic development and education programs in the City's Watershed west of the Hudson River. For more information, call the CWC at 845-586-1400 or consult the corporationís website at www.cwconline.com.
