In Ulster County, the top fifth of Ulster County filers had more income than the remaining four-fifths. Is that equitable? Like folks elsewhere, most residents would have a ready answer — probably based on their political beliefs.

What if you are uncomfortable with offering tax incentives to businesses to locate in your jurisdiction, worrying that the jobs you are competing for in exchange for those incentives might not be worth the losses in revenues to which you are agreeing? Worried about corporate welfare? What should we be doing differently to spur economic development? In Ulster County as elsewhere, the folks who give the tax breaks are pondering the answers to these questions.  

It’s ironic. Though discount carrier Norwegian Air is skating on perilously thin financial ice these days, its first full year of international service at Stewart Airport was not responsible for that red ink. On the contrary. Ending the year with a flourish, the airline’s year-end numbers signal an indisputable success at Stewart.

Engineering at SUNY New Paltz has come a long way in the past six years.

Governments at every level routinely offer consequential incentives to induce businesses to locate in the jurisdictions they favor. The premise is that these businesses will hire workers and help local economies. Sometimes these inducements pay off. Often they don’t.