Syracuse University has taken advantage of a tax program through the governor’s office to partner with companies on the city’s Near Westside.

Start-Up NY, the program run by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office, creates tax-free zones to attract businesses to New York. The program allows businesses to partner with universities, and if approved, those businesses receive tax breaks. SU and other campuses were designated as tax-free zones, and on Friday the program’s advisory board approved SU’s Start-Up NY plan. SU now has to recruit companies to fill the space that was approved.

“I think that this could potentially be a very positive program for our students in the event that we are able to recruit companies that will hire them upon graduation,” said Marilyn Higgins, the Vice President of Community Engagement and Economic Development.

The plan’s approval allows SU to begin vetting companies that could fit the program, which could pair SU students with a business in the area.

Some incentives depend on the type of companies picked, their capital investment and how many jobs they will create. For all companies there is no tax on employee state income tax and some reduction of property taxes.

Three sites were designated on the Near Westside, one was designated in the Center of Excellence and another was designated in the Center for Science and Technology on SU’s campus. SU received 31,968 square feet of space between all the zones.

SU has formed a Start-Up NY campus council to include Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Elizabeth Liddy and deans of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Other university officials and three students, who Higgins said she hopes will be recommended by the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and Whitman, will comprise the rest of the council. The council will meet about four times each year, she said.

Higgins is being trained on Empire State Development’s rules and regulations, she said. The training entails daylong workshops, reading guidelines and weekly conference calls with other Start-Up NY campuses across the state. The council will have to research whether businesses compete with any other local businesses.

Higgins noted that New York has attractive tax incentives for post-production companies. She said the companies may look to tap into the students at VPA and in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

“About a year ago, we had interest on the part of post-production companies, who came up here on the campus, took tours, met with our students in both Newhouse and in VPA,” Higgins said.

Higgins added that the Center of Excellence has contacts in the energy field and the Institute of Veterans and Military Families, which has a member on the campus council, also has contacts that could be useful in recruiting companies.

“My sense is that we will get some prospective companies related to the work being done in the Center of Excellence in energy,” Higgins said. “There’s a lot of activity going on right now with new kinds of energy products to both clean the air inside buildings and make them more efficient.”

Published on April 15, 2015 at 9:57 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati