Brent Mills states New York does not encourge industry but the South does

Business climate in state needs overhauling, Mills asserts

By PETER V. BULLA

New York State is no longer an attractive industrial area, according to Brent Mills, president of the Lapp Insulator Co. of Leroy.

Mills, whose company produces high voltage insulators for light and power utilities, explained this was one of the primary reasons his company chose to build a plant in Georgia, rather than to expand the company's facilities in Leroy in the western part of the state.

Slated to speak before 150 business and industry representatives last night during the kick-off dinner at Hotel Syracuse of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the New York State Association of Industrial Development Agencies, Mills said most businessmen in the state "feel the business climate in the state needs tremendous improvement and overhauling."

Suggesting a general reduction in taxes would be the most important measure the state could do to improve its attractiveness to industry, Mill, in an interview before the dinner, said the South has been "tremendously successful" in bringing industry from the North into that region of the country.

"We received, in my judgement, quite amazing treatment when it was proposed we build a plant down there," he said. "And after the decision to locate in Sandersville was made," Mills reported, "we had a ground-breaking ceremony in which the governor flew into this little town of 5,000 people in the center of the state, and all sorts of celebrities showed up."

"It began to dawn on my then," he explained, "that the reason the South has been so successful in attracting industry is because they genuinely want it, and because they know they need to have it."

Citing an example of how the high cost of operating in this state affected his decision to expand elsewhere, Mills said he would be required to pay a many from Ohio, the home of "our major competitor," $1,000 more than he would receive in his home state, just to "make up for the excess taxes" the man would be subject to if he were to accept the job.

"(The Leroy facility) is the highest cost insulator plant in the U.S., without any question or doubt," he said.

"We (businessmen) feel that the state, with its ultra-liberal posture, and its tendency to try to do everything for everybody, has run its costs up and its taxes up to a point at which it is no longer an attractive industrial area," Mills explained.

Supporting his contention further, Mills cited the air and water contamination regulation laws in New York State.

"Anybody in his right mind would favor pure air and water," he said, "but they can't administer (the laws) with a club."

"The Medicaid program in the state is a wretched situation," he continued, "as is the unemployment compensation program."

"Compensation awards in this state are higher than in any state I ever heard of," he explained.

Mills pointed to statistics published in August in "Business Week," which, he said, compare the dollar income of persons in all 50 states for June, 1967, with June, 1968, and show an average increase for the country of 8.6 per cent.

He reported, that with an average increase of 7.7 per cent, New York State earnings increases were surpassed by 35 of the 50 states.

Along with this, Mills cited the "very fine market" for his company's products in the Southeast. He also reported the area is generally the point of origin for much of the raw materials used by the company.

Following the kick-off dinner at Hotel Syracuse last night, the annual meeting is scheduled to continue with sessions today covering topics to include community development, economic research and professionalism in industrial development.

The session will adjourn tomorrow following a panel discussion on industrial financing tools.