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Tax, financial incentives help Canadian firms expand into Niagara County |
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 by Jerry Cook
A number of Canadian firms have taken advantage of various programs offered by the Niagara County Centre for Economic Development (NCCED) to expand their businesses into the United States.
The NCCED, through the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency
(NCIDA), utilizes a variety of financing, tax incentive, and job
training programs to spur economic growth. The NCCED coordinates and
implements project development activities by working with client
companies on such items as business plan preparation, coordination of
government loan applications and assistance programs, ombudsmen
services and total project quality management.
Niagara County offers a number of industrial parks that meet all
industrial development and zoning criteria for the location and
expansion of manufacturing/light industrial, warehouse, and
distribution facilities. Real estate options for firms looking at
locating or expanding into the region include purchase, lease, and
built-to-suit.
One such location is Vantage International Pointe (VIP), a 158 acre
industrial park adjacent to Niagara Falls International Airport. VIP
features Vantage Centre, a 50,000 sq. ft. business incubator and
multi-tentant “SMART” facility. Vantage Centre offers wide band fiber
optics; individually accessible offices, docks, heat, power, and
municipal services; and business support services.
Individual incubator units are available for businesses engaged in such
things as technology transfer and electronic or medical products
development or assembly activities.
The NCIDA can assist firms through a number of flexible financing
programs and tax incentives including lease/leaseback transactions;
industrial revenue bonds, revolving loan funds; microenterprise
assistance program; real property tax incentives; sales tax exemptions;
mortgage recording tax exemptions; and more.
For example, one Canadian firm that has taken advantage of programs
offered by NCCED/NCIDA is Scarborough, ON-based Motorad of America
Industries Ltd., a division of Transcedar Industries Ltd. Motorad
assembles and distributes automotive cooling products.
Motorad initially learned of the programs offered through NCIDA in the
mid-1990s, says Mordechai Fishman, president of Motorad. “In the
mid-1990s, we had built a distribution facility in Mount Carmel, IL. We
wanted another distribution facility closer to the border and started
looking at programs that were being offered in upstate New York.”
According to Fishman, the company took advantage of serveral tax and
financial incentives and subsequently built a 25,000 sq. ft.
distribution facility in Wheatfield, NY. “There are a lot of benefits
of having a cross-border facility,” says Fishman, particularly if the
firm is supplying customers on a just-in-time (JIT) basis as is the
case with Motorad.
“For instance, one main issue is you reduce your reaction time (to
market). Working with many customers in the U.S., you get a better
understanding about working just-in-time. Issues such as trucking and
customs can make (supplying on a JIT basis) difficult,” he says.
Motorad recently took advantage of additional programs and incentives
through NCCED/NCIDA to expand the facility by 15,000 sq. ft. in 2004.
“The programs made it easier for us to build a facility in the area,”
he notes.
Low-cost hydropower is another major benefit of expanding into Niagara
Country. To help address energy costs, the NCCED works with local
manufacturers to identify opportunities for reducing electric power
costs particularly through an application for low cost power with the
New York Power Authority (NYPA).
NCCED also offers job training programs such as a targeted jobs tax
credit and an on-the-job training program for eligible companies.
Additional assistance such as training, financing, export assistance;
tax exemptions, and counselling is also available through a number of
other agencies including the Small Business Development Centre; Empire
State Development agency; and Empire Zone (administered by the city of
Niagara Falls and Empire State Development).
nccedev.com
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