Ulster IDA under fire over lack of loans

KINGSTON, N.Y. – Ulster County Industrial Development Agency Chairman Randall Leverette said on Thursday that requests from 20 small businesses to establish a loan program due to the coronavirus pandemic were unrealistic because there isn’t enough money in the agency budget.

The response was made during a telephone interview, with Leverette contending that the program would cost too much to operate. He said other means to help businesses recover from the extended pandemic closures are being explored.

“I have been researching ways in which we can help that are within our means and capabilities,” he said.

The letters, which were an apparent coordinated effort to have county officials push the agency into providing assistance, pointed to a recently announced Orange County Industrial Development Agency program that set aside $500,000 for small business loans.

Leverette said that state law prohibits the agency from providing loans to retail businesses, which would instead have to go through the same board members under the guise of the county Capital Resource Corporation. However, he contends even that would be difficult because there is no program in place and no funding available.

The Capital Resource Corporation finished 2019 with an unrestricted fund

balance of $674,798 at the end of a year when there were only $10,086 in total expenses. The corporation’s budget for the coming year is proposed at $20,300 but Leverette contends the fund balance would be wiped out by setting up a loan program.

“It may look like a huge chunk of money but when you look at what it would cost to run just the dayto-day activities” it would leave the agency vulnerable for unexpected future expenses, he said.

Alex and Denise Stier, owners of Home Plate Deli in Kingston and Olives Country Store & Café in Shokan, noted that operating small businesses had already difficult enough before the pandemic. The couple asked that lawmakers consider putting people with empathy on the agency board.

“All we want are serious business people in serious positions,” they wrote. “Many of us work upwards of 80 hours per week and at this unprecedented time ... the small business community are the ones that are donating food and money to keep the economy and our neighbors fed.”

Timely Signs President Paul Beichert in a letter to lawmakers wrote that the agency should be operated by the county Department of Economic Development to promote a “strategically aligned” approach to helping businesses.

“Timely Signs has been part of the Ulster County business landscape for more than 48 years ... (but) these past few weeks have been especially difficult for us as we have had to furlough long-time employees and make other significant adjustments,” he wrote. “This is clearing a time like no other for small businesses . ... Our economy is suffering a terrible loss right now.”

Among business owners pressing for assistance programs is H&H Environmental President Kevin Hinchey. He noted that Orange County has hosted web-based seminars to help businesses apply to programs intended to aid economic recovery.

“Clearly the current leadership of the Ulster county IDA is not interested in mobilizing his organization ... to restore economic security,” he wrote. “

Leverette contends that concerns about other services, such as online forums for small businesses, should be directed to other county agencies.

“I thought that might be the responsibility of the (county) Office for Economic Development,” he said. “This is new for all of us but to thrust that responsibility on the IDA when it isn’t our responsibility perhaps is a little unfair. But it is what it is.”

Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan in an email response to the letters wrote that he was extremely concerned by the tone of the letters.

“As I said earlier this week when I outlined my plan to recover, reopen, and realign our local economy, government must move at the speed of business,” he wrote. “At this critical moment, we need an IDA that is responsive to the needs of our community and ... agree with (business owners) in calling for reforming our IDA to more closely align with its mandate to, advance the job opportunities, general prosperity and long-term economic vitality of Ulster County residents.”

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