Been wondering what economic development approach current County Executive Rob Astorino would take should he win his bid for governor in November? He gave a clue yesterday on a campaign stop in Binghamton, NY, where he unveiled a jobs plan touting traditional business-friendly stances including cutting taxes and regulations, permitting hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, and promoting agriculture and high-tech start-ups.
According to Astorino, high taxes, burdensome regulations, and outdated economic policies are putting New York at a competitive disadvantage.
That’s something he said he wants to change.
“There is no question that with the right policies in Albany, we absolutely can take New York out of the economic doldrums and get people working again with good paying jobs,” Astorino said in a statement. “We can make New York great again and this plan will help us get there.”
The plan includes keeping state spending flat; limiting regulations and government mandates (including ending the state’s worker-safety provision known as the Scaffold Law, and overhauling the state’s workers compensation system); crafting tax credits that would help speed the creation of tech startups and benefit regional workforce development councils; making the property-tax cap permanent; and renewing the Indian Point Energy Center license. He also wants to invest part of a $3.6-billion bank settlement with BNP Paribas in roads and other infrastructure projects.
The plan is one of Astorino’s first major policy proposals in his race against Gov Cuomo.
