SUNY Adirondack hopes to attract business

March 03--QUEENSBURY -- SUNY Adirondack soon hopes to be open for a business.

The college is interested in having a company locate on or near the Queensbury campus as part of the state's new Start-Up NY program, which would provide a tax-free zone of 10 years for businesses locating at or near colleges.

The company would create jobs in the first year and its mission should also somehow align to the college to which it is considering to locate, according to criteria listed on the startup.ny.gov website.

The college Board of Trustees last week approved a draft framework for an agreement to participate in the program.

No specific businesses were mentioned at the meeting, but college officials wanted to have a template for an agreement in place if there were interest. SUNY Adirondack President Kristine Duffy said she has had discussions with potential businesses. The next step is to share this draft plan with elected officials and various stakeholders.

Duffy said the college does not want to have a business locate on campus that is in a similar industry to a nearby firm.

"It doesn't do us any good to put a business here that's going to compete with somebody down the road, put them out of business," she said.

Duffy is optimistic that these conversations could at least lead to internships for students -- even if it doesn't end up becoming a tax-free zone.

The draft language in the contract that states that college officials would support a business in the fields of agriculture, nursing, science, technology, engineering and math, which it has dubbed NSTEM, going into a 20,000-square-foot space. It would also support a building project that provides entrepreneurship training and contains a food hub and test kitchen lab for the college's pending new program of sustainable agriculture.

The college already has applied for a SUNY 2020 grant to fund a 70,000-square-foot NSTEM building. The announcement of funding won't come until late winter or early spring.

If the business seeks a larger off-campus space, the agreement states that the college would support food and agri-manufacturing business and advanced manufacturers that provide training to partner with SUNY Adirondack's Early College High School program, electrical technology students and engineering majors.

The campus Start-Up NY plan must then go to the SUNY Board of Trustees for approval. Applications between a business and the college for the tax-free incentive would be reviewed by the Empire State Development Corp.

Contract approved

In other business, the Board of Trustees approved an agreement on a new contract with the Faculty Association that covers 2012 to 2015. Faculty members will receive set raises of $1,600 retroactive to 2012-2013; $1,645 in 2014-2015 and $1,690 in 2015-2016. This is in addition to the increment raises that staff receive for the length of service.

The union agreed to increase members' contributions to health insurance co-pays, which will save the college more than $40,000 per year, according to a news release. The net cost to the college is about a 2.67 percent increase in salaries per year.

Board of Trustees Chairman Mark Bulmer said both parties were cognizant of the fiscal constraints, given state aid reductions and projected future student enrollments.

"The parties were creative in providing for a reasonable wage increase while saving the college significant costs in connection with the health insurance coverage for the faculty," he said.

The contract now heads to both the Warren and Washington county boards of supervisors for their review.

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