By Ashley M. Casey

Associate Editor

As New York State begins to deploy the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, businesses across the state are hoping to reopen and rebuild after the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. With one of the bills he helped create recently signed into law, Assemblyman Al Stirpe (District 127, North Syracuse) is doing his part as chair of the Assembly Small Business Committee to help boost businesses in his district and beyond.

Stirpe reflected on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address last week and Cuomo’s signing of a bill Stirpe co-sponsored that would make state resources more accessible for small businesses.

“Today’s State of the State address called on us to reinvigorate our local economies and build back stronger, so we’re prepared for the next generation of economic growth. I stand ready to work with the governor, my colleagues in the legislature, and the federal government to help New York recover from this crisis and avert painful austerity measures,” Stirpe said in a Jan. 11 statement.

The Assembly Small Business Committee held a series of roundtable discussions in 2020 to gauge the effectiveness of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The committee sought input from entrepreneurs, community leaders, the NYS Department of Labor and the NYS Small Business Development Center, which is operated by the State University of New York (SUNY) System Administration.

“One of the things that we’ve heard whether we’ve done public hearings or some kind of roundtable is in addition to all the other problems businesses have with regulations … [is entrepreneurs saying,] ‘Can’t you make things easier? I don’t have staff and accountants to find all these resources,’” Stirpe told Eagle Newspapers. “We have all these programs for small business and they don’t get accessed nearly enough.”

One reason these programs are underutilized, Stirpe said, is a lack of awareness of what resources are available. Stirpe co-sponsored a bill directing the Empire State Development Corporation to compile a database of these resources. The corresponding NYS Senate bill was introduced by State Sen. Anna Kaplan (District 7, Great Neck).

Cuomo signed the bill into law Dec. 15, 2020, and the database should be available this summer. Owners of small businesses — those with 50 or fewer employees — will be able to filter programs by industry, number of employees, MWBE (Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise) status and other search terms.

“Whoever you are you can go in and you can do a search … and find the ones that fit your business. You can narrow down the different programs that are available,” Stirpe said. “It’s a small step, but I think people will appreciate it once it goes into effect July 1.”

The governor “wanted every agency of the state that has programs that apply to small business” to participate in the creation of the database, Stirpe said.

Among New York State’s hidden gems are a series of programs that help businesses reduce energy costs and and lessen their environmental impact through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

“They’re very well funded but most of the time it’s larger companies that are taking advantage of the programs,” Stirpe said.

Another unsung hero is the Small Business Development Center network. The nearest SBDC office is located within Onondaga Community College. SBDCs offer monthly trainings and classes, business planning services, assistance in applying for loans and more. Entrepreneurs can also call their local SBDC to learn which state programs they are eligible for and how to fill out the proper paperwork.

“We have a really good one up at OCC,” Stirpe said. “They help people set up processes and procedures for their business to be able to do their taxes. They are also able to keep small businesses up-to-date with any new regulations that might be enacted. They’re a great resource that’s vastly underused.”

The Onondaga SBDC serves start-up and existing businesses in Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, Oswego, and Seneca counties. To learn more, visit onondagasbdc.org or contact [email protected] or 315-498-6070.

Looking ahead

While ESD is working on compiling the small business resource database, Stirpe and his colleagues in the State Legislature are continuing to advocate for NYS residents and businesses in the new year.

During the 2020 roundtables on the CARES Act, business owners expressed frustration with the restrictions on relief loans, such as requiring most of the loan to go to payroll expenses.

“A lot of small businesses are really small, so having limitations on what percentage could be used for expenses like rent outside of payroll … if it’s just you and your wife who run the shop and you pay $3,000 or $4,000 a month in rent, that might be 60% of your expenses,” Stirpe said.

The latest national COVID economic relief package includes the Save Our Stages Act, which earmarks $15 billion for independent entertainment venues such as theaters and concert halls.

“Places like performing clubs and venues for live music, movies … they didn’t know if they were eligible and most of them are very small and larger companies gobbled up the funding,” Stirpe said of the first round of economic relief.

Stirpe also emphasized the need for child care subsidies to help working parents.

“A lot of businesses couldn’t go back to business because of the school situation … especially parents of young kids,” he said.

Going into 2021, Stirpe plans to focus on a few key issues: rent relief, unemployment insurance and broadband access.

“There’s a real rent crisis out there and it’s not just residential. Rent has not been forgiven for anybody — it’s just been postponed. The government should come up with a large amount of money to help with rent, both residential and commercial,” Stirpe said.

Soaring unemployment claims could bury small businesses in skyrocketing insurance premiums, Stirpe said.

“We’re hoping that the federal government can come through and replenish the unemployment insurance trust funds in states so they don’t have to penalize businesses for something that’s no fault of their own,” he said.

Finally, the pandemic has underlined the need for affordable internet access in rural and urban areas alike. Stirpe said he and his  family spent much of 2020 working from home.

“We all had at least two or three devices going at a time [per person] … and it wasn’t a problem for us,” he said. But if you live in Tully or Fabius or the south side or the west side you didn’t have access to high-speed internet. Just like the way we electrified the country 100 years ago, we need to do the same with broadband.”

While there is still much work to be done, Stirpe said Cuomo’s State of the State address struck a hopeful tone.

“I think the governor had a different tone in the State of the State — more aspirational as far as reopening New York,” he said, crediting the governor for “using the Buffalo Bills game as an example of a way that we can hold events and still be careful.”

The incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden could be a fresh start for the nation, Stirpe said.

“We’ve waited over four years for an infrastructure program that Donald Trump promised when he first became president, and it never happened, but the administration gave $1.6 trillion to the top 1%. [Such a tax break for the rich] starves our government from funding programs for education and fighting hunger,” Stirpe said. “This is an opportunity. We’ve cleaned the slate, basically. Let’s do things better and smarter than we did in the past — and more fair.”