Running a successful business is no easy task, and business assistance programs at the federal, state and local levels can provide some help . Most programs offer some form of financial assistance, such as low-interest loans or tax abatements. Others provide business counseling, networking opportunities, discounted office space and the like.

"What you have on Long Island is a virtual network of economic development, whether it be the state, the country, the town or the utilities," says Bruce Germano, vice president of retail services for the Long Island Power Authority . "The idea is that each of us works together because by itself one single program is not necessarily enough to help a company. But the combination really becomes a powerful tool to help businesses."

Funding also is available outside government sources, KeySpan, the natural gas provider that manages LIPA's transmission and distribution system, works with the utility to develop a variety of economic development programs in conjunction with government programs. Electric rate incentives, load-shifting options and rebates for businesses that utilize "clean" energy, combined with loan programs, business counseling and other forms of business assistance, can provide many businesses with the cost reductions they need to stay -- and grow -- on Long Island. LIPA and government agencies work together to compare the costs of doing business on Long Island to the costs of doing business in other states, putting together incentive programs that often make Island costs attractive. It’s not unusual for companies to receive tax incentives when they move to or expand on Long Island.

Economic Revitalization
These business assistance programs also can have startling effects on the communities in which they are located -- in many cases revitalizing business districts and jump-starting the economy. The situation in most Empire Zones is particularly dramatic. These EZs are designated areas that offer special incentive programs to businesses that locate within them to encourage economic development, business investment and job creation.

"We usually tell a company that they can operate in an Empire Zone less expensively than anywhere else in the country," says Barry Greenspan, economic development specialist with the Long Island office of the New York State Development Department."The benefits are so generous that typically it's a tax-free zone." He adds that an Empire Zone company that invests $10 million and creates 100 jobs would receive 19 percent of its investment back from New York State in the form of tax breaks. For every new job created, that company would receive $1,500. It would also get its electric bill cut in half and pay no property tax.

Suffolk County's three EZs have been huge successes. The Islip and Riverhead zones have rehabilitated areas that had been occupied largely by abandoned industrial and business sites. The Brookhaven zone enabled the county to utilize a largely undeveloped area.

"I think this development is occurring at a density and in a style that really will preserve what we like to call the 'suburban/rural' nature of the Town of Brookhaven," says Anthony Aloisio, Brookhaven's director of economic development. "Large lots are maintaining this rural charm, while other areas of development feature shopping centers, recreational activities and other things that people would choose in suburban lifestyle."

A New Nassau
Nassau County recently applied for its first Empire Zone. It will include areas of six communities: Bethpage, Glen Cove, the Village of Hempstead, Inwood, New Cassel and Roosevelt. Empire Zones are one of the tools County Executive Tom Suozzi and his team are using to reinvent Nassau. The country has designed six initiatives to improve the county's quality of life and the business climate:

  1. Promote high-tech, high-skilled industry.
  2. Promote tourism in Nassau County.
  3. Remediate, recycle and reuse Brownfield properties and restore them to productive use.
  4. Revitalize the downtowns.
  5. Facilitate affordable housing development.
  6. Coordinate other special projects
Planning for Growth
Economic development programs are all part of the grand plan to fuel business growth and provide an environment in which people can live and work well.

"None of this happened by accident," says William G. Mannix, administrative director of the Town of Islip Industrial Development Agency, referring to the strong business growth the town has experienced. "It happened because we have an administration that values economic development and that recognizes that you have to have a healthy business climate in order to attract development in your community. And that helps to stabilize the tax base and provide jobs for our residents."

Businesses have access to programs based largely on their location. The programs with the widest geographic reach are island-wide. From there, programs fall into several categories of decreasing geographic reach: county, township and city.