Wage plan

The middle of a recession with a state unemployment rate almost 9 percent is the wrong time for legislation that could stifle job-creating economic development by raising costs to developers and businesses. Yet Gov. David A. Paterson is preparing to do that with a bill which would impose wage requirements on some new construction projects and large employers.

The legislation would require developers and contractors relying on public financing to pay prevailing wages that would be significantly higher than the state's $7.25 per hour minimum. The wage requirement would apply to projects financed through industrial development agencies, which funnel public funds and provide tax incentives, the New York Times reported.

Nonprofits with 500 or more employees — such as St. Lawrence and Clarkson universities — would also be subject to the wage requirement on projects costing $10 million.

The wage scale would be regionally adjusted for New York City, its suburbs and upstate.

"Why ... would the governor want to kill an economic development program that has created over 200,000 new jobs?" asked Kenneth Adams, president of the Business Council of New York. "It's a proposal that destroys hope for economic recovery in New York."

The bill would reach beyond new construction to future employers as well who use space in publicly financed projects. Companies with more than 100 workers would also have to pay prevailing wages, but to some workers such as retail employees, janitors and cleaning people.

The plan would raise construction costs on new projects. It is anti-competitive and counterproductive government intervention in the marketplace that Gov. Paterson should abandon.