ATLANTA, Sept. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
The U.S. Small Business Administration announced the opening of two Business Recovery Centers in New Haven County. Businesses affected by Tropical Storm Irene are encouraged to visit the Centers to apply for disaster assistance.
The Centers will open Monday, Sept. 26 at 10 a.m. and the hours of operations are Monday – Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Centers will cease operations Thursday, Oct. 13 at the close of business.
New Haven County
Gateway Community College, Rm. 11788 Bassett RoadNorth Haven, CT 06473
Soundview Family YMCA628 East Main StreetBranford, CT 06405
SBA’s representatives will be on hand at the Business Recovery Centers to issue loan applications, answer questions about the disaster loan program, explain the application process and assist business owners in completing their applications.
“Businesses and non-profit organizations of any size may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets,” said Bernard M. Sweeney, SBA’s Connecticut district director. The SBA may increase a loan up to 20 percent of the total amount of disaster damage to real estate and/or leasehold improvements, as verified by SBA, to make improvements that lessen the risk of property damage by future disasters of the same kind.
For small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture, and most private non-profit organizations, the SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance is available regardless of whether the business suffered any physical property damage.
To obtain additional assistance call the SBA Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET or send an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov. Those affected by this disaster may fill out a loan application online by visiting SBA’s website at
https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/ .
The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is November 3, 2011. The deadline to return economic injury applications is June 4, 2012.
For more information about the SBA’s Disaster Loan Program, visit our website at
www.sba.gov .
Contact: Michael LamptonPhone: 404-331-0333
SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration
Copyright (C) 2011 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
For the past 15 years Ive mainly covered business, technology and sports. I was one of the first web-centric video reporters when I started at ON24 Financial News. Now at Forbes I not only interview the whos-who of Silicon Valley, but also feature executives who live extraordinary and rewarding lives outside the boardroom. Prior to Forbes I was a morning anchor at KFTY, business news anchor at KRON, a sports anchor at ABC, an anchor/reporter for Energy News Live and a reporter for Comcast Sports Nets racing series and 49ers Insider show. I was recently named Star Reporter of the Year by an industry insider who released a list of 15 Members Of The Press You Need To Know. Plus, Ive received an Emmy nod twice by the National Academy of Television Arts amp; Sciences, San Francisco Chapter. When Im not interviewing executives, analysts and techies, youll find me performing water acrobatics as a professional water skier.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. –
Missouri lawmakers sent Gov. Jay Nixon a bill creating an incentive fund for science-based companies but parted ways Friday without agreeing on a broader overhaul of the states business enticements that had been marketed as the marquee issue of a special legislative session.
Although lawmakers did not permanently adjourn the special session, they have not scheduled any further debates or votes and gave little indication that they even desire to keep negotiating on a sweeping plan that would curtail many of Missouris existing tax credits and offer new incentives for businesses that hire employees and ship international exports through the St. Louis airport.
In tough times, some strained marriages crack. Others try to hold on until they just cant hold on any longer. One things for sure: Bad economies are good times for the cheating business — and other freaky stuff couples do to survive.
Updated: September 12, 2011 11:50AM
JOLIET — Business at Joliet’s two casinos took a big hit in August because of competition from the new Rivers Casino.
August revenues were down nearly 16 percent at Harrah’s Joliet and more than 8 percent at Hollywood Casino Joliet.
It was the first full month of business for Rivers Casino, which opened in Des Plaines in late July. The casino generated $34 million worth of gambling business.
All but one of the other nine casinos in Illinois saw a drop in revenue from August 2010, but River Casino did so much business that statewide casino revenues were up 18 percent to nearly $137 million.
Still, Joliet City Manager Thomas Thanas, pointing to the drop in business at other riverboats, said the August numbers show that one more casino “cannibalizes” the existing business.
“It really confirms that we’re near the saturation point in terms of casino outlets,” Thanas said. “It’s moving existing dollars around.”
The biggest drop in business was at Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, the closest casino to Des Plaines. August revenues were down 24 percent at $18.5 million. Grand Victoria had been the biggest money-maker in Illinois before Rivers opened.
Harrah’s Joliet generated $17 million, down from $20.2 million in August 2010 and $18.9 million in July. Hollywood Casino Joliet generated $11.2 million, down from $12.2 million in August 2010 and $13 million in July.
The city of Joliet is gauging the impact of Rivers Casino because of the potential loss in local casino tax dollars.
Joliet casino taxes for August were $1.7 million, compared to $1.9 million in August 2010.
The impact on city revenues in August was worse than the city projected. But so far this year, city casino taxes have exceeded expectations as budget makers braced for the combined impact of a weak economy and more competition in the marketplace.
“For the month, we were about $135,000 short (of projections),” said Kenneth Mihelich, the city’s budget director. “For the year, we’re still about $500,000 to the good.”
Mihelich said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the city would end the year with more casino tax dollars than predicted in its budget.
Joliet officials, however, also are worried about pending legislation that would add new casinos in Chicago and elsewhere, while also adding slot machines at horse racetracks.
“I think what the numbers are showing is that the new business merely cannibalizes the existing market and just shifts dollars from one casino in the state to another,” Thanas said.
Although President Obamas jobs plan would cut taxes for employers like Raymond Hopp, the Clifton business owner doesnt think its enough to jump-start hiring at his small manufacturing firm.
The American Jobs Act would spend $65 billion to halve taxes businesses pay on the first $5 million of their payroll and eliminate the tax entirely if new workers are hired or wages of current employees are increased.
In theory, thats just the kind of tax holiday that would help Hopp, president and CEO of HK Metalcraft, teach new employees to fabricate washers and gaskets for automobiles.
The average age of our workforce is about 55, and about 20 percent of our workforce is over 60, he said. So we need to train people.
But theres a catch, he said.
While HK Metalcraft has seen a slow and steady increase in revenue that puts it on track to be up 10 percent this year, the company is nowhere near its maximum production capacity.
Any extra revenue, Hopp said, would pay overtime for his existing 33 employees, not hire new ones. Thats where he and several business advocates differ with the president.
Businesses that hire new employees who have been unemployed for at least six months would be eligible for a $4,000 tax credit.
Will that be enough incentive to hire someone if theres not demand enough to pay their $50,000 or $75,000 salary, asked James Barrood, executive director of the Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurship at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Every last penny helps, but if theyre just cruising along and trying to survive in this market until demand picks up, he added, it wont help that much.
Other parts of Obamas proposal, Barrood said, like reforms to improve access to start-up capital, would have a bigger impact on New Jerseys entrepreneurs.
The tax credit for hiring people whove been unemployed for at least six months would cost the government $8 billion.
For Philip Kirschner, president of the New Jersey Business Industry Association, the credit rewards the kind of hiring that most managers try to avoid.
Employers want to hire workers wholl be as productive as possible, he said, whether thats someone whos already working, been unemployed for two months, six months or more.
Stacy Jones: (973) 392-7969 or stacy_jones@starledger.com
A 59-year-old Burbank business owner pleaded not guilty Friday to creating a nuisance and potential danger for aircraft at Bob Hope Airport by feeding hundreds of pigeons near the runway.
Charles Douglas appeared in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Burbank with attorneys Bruce Kaufman and Donald Ingalls to answer to the misdemeanor charges of disobeying a court order and creating a public nuisance.
They declined to comment about the case, which was continued to Oct. 21 for a pretrial hearing.
Douglas, a Glendale resident, has long battled with police and city officials over feeding a growing flock of pigeons at his business, Precise Roofing Co., which is near the airport.
Police say feeding the birds at his business on Hollywood Way and Tulare Avenue has created a safety hazard for airplanes using the airport.
Bird strikes had been increasing because of the influx, police said, prompting Douglas arrest in August.
The birds caused a Southwest Airlines flight in July to be diverted to Ontario, officials said.
In December 2010 and again in February, Douglas was found guilty of feeding pigeons so as to create a nuisance, court documents show.
Police cited Douglas again in July for feeding the birds.
If Douglas is convicted of one of the charges, city attorneys said, he faces six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
veronica.rocha@latimes.com
President Obama, in his speech on Thursday before a joint session of Congress, promised to deploy the power of the federal government to induce small businesses to hire out-of-work Americans. But even some of the small-business owners who watched the speech live in the House chamber at the White House’s invitation said they would not be swayed by the carrots the president proposed to dangle.
David Catalano, who helped found Modea, a digital advertising agency in Blacksburg, Va., and Darlene Miller, who owns Permac Industries, a precision machining company in Burnsville, Minn., both said they planned to hire regardless of what the government does. We’re going to hire based on our needs, Ms. Miller said.
In his speech, the president outlined several tax incentives for businesses to prompt investment in general and to reward hiring in particular. The investment incentives, which would take effect in 2012, include cutting the employer payroll tax in half, to 3.1 percent, for the first $5 million in wages. The president would also allow companies to continue taking a full deduction for certain kinds of property purchases immediately, rather than having to amortize the expense over many years.
To reward hiring, the president proposed a full payroll tax holiday on up to $50 million in increased wages over what a company paid in 2011, regardless of whether the growth comes from new hires or salary increases. The president also proposed a series of tax credits for companies that hire people who have been looking for work for at least six months: up to $4,000 for most employees, but up to $5,600 for veterans, and up to $9,600 for veterans injured during their service. It is unclear when the hiring incentives would expire. According to a White House representative, the amount of the credit would depend on the employee’s wages and the number of hours worked.
Some economists have questioned whether such incentives really induce hiring and investment or simply reward companies for actions they would have taken anyway. But both business owners said that any extra boost would help. This just eases the burden, to invest in their education, or do more things for them, Mr. Catalano said.
Ms. Miller added: It will definitely help small businesses with cash flow.
While the proposals would benefit all businesses, not merely small ones, the White House said the payroll tax cut was directed toward the 98 percent of firms that have payroll below the $5 million limit. Some economists believe that the bonus depreciation, in particular, offers more help to large firms than small ones.
The president’s speech split advocates for small business along predictable lines. The National Federation of Independent Business, the conservative-leaning small-business lobbying group, panned it as more of the same in an e-mailed statement that cited the threat of higher taxes and the thousands of pending federal regulations.
Small businesses need the government out of their way, said Dan Danner, the group’s president and chief executive, in the statement. Tax breaks are always a welcome help to small businesses, especially in these tough economic times. But those outlined tonight by the president are temporary, and avoid the question of meaningful business tax reform.
The National Small Business Association, a more centrist organization, was more generous in its praise of the tax cuts. Offering a payroll tax holiday can help all small employers — not just the profitable ones who benefit from an income tax cut — with some much-needed cash while at the same time making it a bit more affordable to bring on new employees, said Todd McCracken, the group’s president and chief executive, in a statement. But the NSBA joined the NFIB in calling for a lighter regulatory burden for businesses and demanded a far-reaching overhaul of the whole tax code, not just for corporations.
These concerns resonated even with the president’s invited guests. Mr. Catalano said that he was wary of the president’s pledge to pay for the package by asking the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share. Mr. Catalano said that because his company was organized as an S corporation, in which profits are passed through to shareholders, he would then face higher taxes. But, he said, my partner and I have reinvested 100 percent of the profits that our agency has made over the last five years back into the company. If the government takes a bigger share of that from me, it directly impedes my ability to grow the agency.
Ms. Miller said the president could have done more to address regulatory burdens. There’s still a lot of work in that area to be done, she said. There are a lot of regulations that really just aren’t necessary.
She also worried about the president’s call for higher taxes. But she added that even with her company’s profits, I’m not the wealthiest, so it does not affect me directly.
Business group backs governors unemployment fix
ByAP
|September 10, 2011
A former Bucks County chiropractor was sentenced Friday to 17 years in prison for burning down his business in 2008 and then lying to federal authorities.
US District Judge Robert F. Kelly also ordered Jonathan P. Wiktorchik Jr., 59, of Southampton, to pay restitution of $1.5 million.
Wiktorchik had been found guilty of arson, mail fraud, and making false statements to investigators in federal court on March 1.
In a statement Friday, the US Attorneys Office in Philadelphia said that at 2:30 am March 30, 2008, an explosion and fire broke out at the Upper Bucks Chiropractic Center, the business Wiktorchik and his wife owned in a strip mall on Mountain View Road in Ottsville, Nockamixon Township. Four other businesses were also destroyed.
Wiktorchik filed an insurance claim and was paid $50,000. He first told federal agents that he was on a camping trip with his son during the time the fire was set. Then he admitted he left the camp site in the early hours and claimed that when he arrived at his business, he was assaulted by Spanish-speaking gang members who, he said, caused the explosion and fire.
A federal jury decided that instead, Wiktorchik set fire to the business using gasoline.
Contact staff writer Dan Hardy at 215-854-2612 or at dhardy@phillynews.com.