Kolmar plant, on River Road in Port Jervis

ALBANY - State Senator John Bonacic Wednesday called on Governor David Paterson to come to Port Jervis and intervene to keep Kolmar Laboratories in that city. In a letter from Kolmar officials to Bonacic, they said that New York has done “a miserable job” trying to keep them in the state.

Kolmar’s leadership pointed in particular to the issues surrounding the state’s Empire Zone program, and the changes made to the program this year under the Democrats who controlled State government during the budget process.

Kolmar officials wrote that “cost increases specifically” relating to “operating a business in New York had significantly eroded” the company’s ability to compete, adding that “the out-of-control rising costs in New York” will make it “impossible for” Kolmar “to compete and sustain operations.”

“Empire State Development is a miserable failure in terms of creating jobs,” said Bonacic. “They have gone through commissioner after commissioner and demonstrated a complete absence of leadership.” He said the governor needs to “step in here or we are going to lose 700 jobs.” The senator said it would be “devastate Port Jervis and the Tri-State area.”

Bonacic also referenced the current Senate shut-down. “If the Senate was in Republican hands, the Empire Zone program would not have been gutted, the MTA tax on Orange County businesses would not have happened.”