ALBANY—A new Business Council survey of New York State business leaders shows that employers want Albany to enact sweeping reforms to improve New York States business climate—and not just process reforms that merely change the way state lawmakers do their business.

Respondents to the new Business Council survey overwhelmingly identified costs of health insurance, budget and tax issues, and workers’ compensation reform as the top public-policy issues that must be addressed to improve New York State’s business climate, according to The Business Council’s latest survey of its members.

Nearly half of respondents (46 percent) said legislative and governmental reform is a very important issue to them (34 percent) or their top priority (12 percent). But they were far more emphatic in pinpointing specific policy changes needed to improve New York's business climate.

For example:

• Nearly nine of 10 respondents (88 percent) said costs of health insurance were either their top priority or very important to their business, making that issue the number one concern identified in the survey.
  
• Eight of 10 respondents identified budget and tax issues as very important or their top priority.
  
• More than two-thirds (69 percent) said workers’ comp reform is very important or their top priority.
  
• Medicaid, education standards, and energy costs were also designated as very important concerns by about half of respondents.

Respondents said all six of these priorities are more important than legislative and governmental reform.

"There's no doubt that New York's business leaders, like all New Yorkers, support process reforms that will help Governor Pataki and state lawmakers find the most efficient ways to debate and make laws," said Business Council President Daniel B. Walsh. "But business people recognize that reform must focus on improving policy outcomes. Process is important, but results matter more.

"Lawmakers cannot merely tweak their processes a bit and then declare victory in the reform debate. Lawmakers must enact reforms that shrink taxes and fees, Medicaid spending, and costs of workers' comp, energy, and health insurance. New Yorkers will not consider anything else meaningful reform, and the clamor for change will not diminish in the slightest."

The Council conducted its online survey of members this fall to help it shape its legislative agenda for 2005. Here is a summary of the 480 responses.

Respondents were asked to rank each of these 13 issues, designating whether it was a “top issue concerning my business,” a “very important” issue, a somewhat important issue, not a very significant issue, or “not important at all to my business.”

The respondents were broadly representative of The Business Council’s membership. Almost
half were from companies employing 50 or fewer workers, and about one-third were manufacturers. They were also well-distributed statewide. Results on the top issues, however,
varied little by size or type of business, or by geographic location.

Variations did appear, however, on some of the issues that aroused less concern overall. High housing costs were ranked as more important by Downstate than Upstate members, and single-sales tax reform was rated higher in importance by manufacturers than by others.

Respondents were also given an opportunity to add further, written comments about any or all of the issues, and almost 200 did so. Many were quite vocal and pointed. Here are some of the
responses.

• “New York State continues to be the highest-cost state in the USA to run a small
  business. The tax and budget issues work against the ability of small businesses to make
  a profit.”
  
• “Property taxes are our number-one issue. The cost of taxes is keeping businesses from
  expanding and locating in our community.”
  
• “Health insurance costs are becoming a drag on employment. For lower-level employees
  this can easily add 40 percent to wages. Funding health-care costs through employment
  encourages outsourcing!”
  
• “We pay a great deal of taxes on the property we own and get very little in return in the
  way of services from state or local governments.”
  
• “Constant 10 and 15 percent increases over the last 10 years have forced us to water
  down our health coverage and to consider passing a portion of the cost on to our
  employees.”
  
• “It’s almost to the point where my business will no longer be able to provide ANY
  coverage to its employees.”
  
• “Our combined county, city and school property tax is twice what my former company in
  Massachusetts paid per $1,000 in assessed value. Our sales tax is 50 percent higher, too.”
  
• “With our state’s reputation for high taxes, we find it very difficult to attract out-of-state
  employees.”
  
• “The cost of workers’ comp insurance is extremely high in relation to the actual costs to
  pay for the minor accidents that occur, about 30 to 1.”
  
• “Residential property taxes, particularly the school-tax portion, make hiring new
  employees almost impossible, particularly if they are new grads or are coming from other
  parts of the country.”
  
• “The high tax load paid by all New Yorkers has decreased the number of businesses that
  we sell to. This steady drop in our sales volume has caused us to lay off workers, and
  reduce most of our expenses.”
  
• “We are a large energy user and the cost of energy and transmission in New York State is
  double our competitors.’”
  
• Energy is a major cost component and represents a substantial cost disadvantage.”
  
• “It is a mystery as to why our cost of energy is so high as compared to other parts of the
  country.”
  
• “We spend more on Medicaid than California and Texas combined. We need to slay this
  beast that is destroying the economic health of this state. What good are healthy people if
  there are no employers left?”

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