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August 9, 2007
Henrietta, NY – A company that promised lots of new jobs in exchange for tax breaks handed out pink slips Tuesday.
Current Communications would not say how many workers were laid off, or how many workers the company had in Henrietta before Tuesday's job cuts. There were 146 employees at the end of last year, according to Monroe County. After the layoffs, a company spokesman says the number of employees will be in the “low 100s.”
Currrent, a broadband Internet technology firm, said the layoffs were part of a restructuring.
Officials from Current and Monroe County held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the company’s new Henrietta facility last October. Current said it would create 180 new jobs. At the time, Current had 82 workers.
Henrietta Town Supervisor Jim Breese (R), attended the ceremony. He said he was disappointed in news of the job cuts.
“It creates a lot of doubt in people's minds about what these companies say when they have these fancy ceremonies,” he said.
The tax incentives offered to Current came at some expense to the town and school district.
Current is allowed to keep the tax incentives, because it met the county’s requirement to increase its workforce by at least 10 percent.
“It's a bonus if they get up to 180, and they did make an investment in the community,” said the county’s economic development point-person Judy Seil.
She said Current’s payroll and benefits amount to a $10 million investment in the community.
A county spokeswoman said the county works with companies on such announcements, and it’s not the county’s faults if a company’s fortunes change.
The county faced similar questions after it touted an expansion announced by Careguide, a health management firm. The company promised to create 200 jobs, but slashed its workforce in half, and now has about 25 employees.
Careguide lost its tax breaks as a result.
Monroe County Legislator Ted O’Brien (D) said the companies and the county are giving overly optimistic job projections to the public.
“The image that the county is trying to produce that we're creating lots of good paying jobs really doesn't mesh with reality. The fact is our job growth is anemic,” he said.
Seil disagrees. She said almost all companies receiving incentives meet or exceed their required job targets.
Breese said the issue for him is whether there’s too much “spin” on these announcements.
“It's getting so when someone says something, we have to be skeptical about it, hope what they say is true, but be ready for disappointment,” he said.
Update: A Monroe County spokeswoman told 13WHAM News Wednesday morning that Current Communications now has 125 employees. It's not clear how many workers the company had before Tuesday's layoffs.
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