{UAH} DEMOCRATS HAVE NOW MADE NEW YORK THE TARGET

Lawmakers’ ‘prevailing’ slam at hopes of a New York recovery

By Post Editorial Board

April 10, 2020 | 7:50pm

Christopher Sadowski

Congress is racing to shore up the nation’s economy amid the corona lockdowns, yet state lawmakers just moved to whack New York’s. To please unions.

The move came via a mandate they stuffed into the just-passed budget that’ll force the construction industry to pay exorbitant, union-driven wages for private projects that get public aid.

The state Constitution requires “prevailing” (i.e., union) wages for public works, but the new mandate ropes in private developments that get tax credits or subsidies totaling at least 30 percent of costs.

Lawmakers granted final approval on Thursday to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s...

It’s nuts: New York desperately needs to jumpstart the economy post-corona, yet this will only discourage developers and kill jobs.

A 2017 Empire Center study found the “prevailing” mandate tacks on 13 percent or more to project costs upstate and 25 percent-plus in the city, just for wages. Union-set work rules under the law drive projects’ price tags higher still.

These add-ons will clobber the economics of many projects; investors will give up on New York and build elsewhere.

New York state needs “an unprecedented level of economic activity to dig out from the coronavirus, and what we’ve done is put a wet blanket on it,” rails Michael Kracker of Unshackle Upstate. Associated General Contractors President Michael Elmendorf blasts the law as “unconscionable,” with the economy taking “an hourly gut punch.”

Indeed, it defeats the whole point of the public aid: What good are tax breaks and grants if they raise costs at the same time?

Even Gov. Cuomo, who OK’d the law, recognizes its potential harm; an aide notes its January 2022 effective date may be put off.

Yet these projects take years to plan and execute. Investors will surely scrap those they think likely to face prohibitive costs.

Special interests have long dominated the state’s agenda. But Cuomo & Co. should’ve said, “Sorry, this is just not the time.”

EM         -> { Trump for 2020 }

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