39 more companies join START-UP NY tax-free program (1 in Central New York)

Syracuse, N.Y. — Thirty-nine more companies, promising to create 817 jobs and invest $30 million in New York, have joined the START-UP NY program in exchange for the opportunity to operate tax-free for 10 years.

Only one of the 39 new companies joining the program is in Central New York. Snow Dragon Corp., the U.S. branch of Cein Biotechnology Ltd. Co., of China, has committed to creating seven jobs and investing $80,000 in the Syracuse Technology Garden II business incubator in AXA Towers in Syracuse.

Cein has developed hardware and software to scan and analyze the vein structure in the human finger as an authentication technique with applications for the banking, retail, education, medical and security industries.

Snow Dragon is affiliating with State University of New York at Oswego, which has designated START-UP NY space in the Tech Garden. Companies joining the program must be associated with a college or university and locate on or near the institution's campus.

The University at Buffalo is associated with the greatest number of additional companies joining the program. Eight companies associated with the university have committed to creating 213 jobs.

New or expanding businesses that join the program and commit to creating jobs in New York can operate tax-free for 10 years, paying no state income tax, business or corporate state or local taxes, sales tax, property tax or franchise fees.

Since the program launched in 2015, a total of 202 companies have joined, promising to create at least 4,490 jobs and invest $251 million over the next three to five years.

To date, 81 schools are participating in the program and have established 600 tax-free areas.

Critics have assailed the program as an ineffective way to stimulate economic development. They cite a report from the state's economic development office in July that said just 408 jobs had been created by the program in its first two years.

The Cuomo administration has said the critics are rushing to judgment and that the program will grow exponentially as it moves forward. The state's economic development office said in its report in July that the program is on schedule to create 4,140 jobs by 2020.

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