Joe Sempolinski

Congressman Joe Sempolinski discussed concerns about student loan forgiveness in his first media call as the 23rd District‘s new representative.

Sempolinski, who was sworn in September 13, was named to the Education and Labor Committee, and Budget Committee. He said one of the topics that came up in the Education and Labor Committee was the student loan forgiveness program recently announced by President Joe Biden.

Sempolinski said his concerns with the program is that it’s not fair, “So it’s not fair to people who have paid off their loans on time. It’s not fair to people who are working in jobs where they didn’t get a loan. And also, the president doesn’t have the authority to do it in the first place. This wasn’t passed via law. This wasn’t something that we voted on in the House of Representatives, United States Senate. It was done by executive action and I don’t believe, constitutionally, the president has the authority to do it.”

Sempolinski added that all constituent offices in the district are fully operational again. The Congressman will be in Jamestown on Friday, September 23 for the Chautauqua Chamber of Commerce‘s annual Congressional Breakfast. The event will take place at Moonbrook Country Club.

Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast with State Senator George Borrello and Assemblyman Andy Goodell

State Senator George Borrello and Assemblyman Andy Goodell shared their initial takes on the 2022-23 State Budget at the Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast Friday.

The two legislators appeared via Zoom to attendees of the annual breakfast as the State Legislature was still in session and voting on budget bills at the time of the event.

Assemblyman Andy Goodell said the $220 billion deal reflects a huge increase in spending in recent years, “Last year, the majority raised taxes by about $8 billion. And this year the state has received a lot of, I mean, billions and billions of dollars in Federal stimulus funding. So that’s what’s funding this huge increase in spending.”

Senator Borrello said the budget process was dysfunctional with the Democrats seeming to not be able to get out of their own way.

Borrello also criticized how policy issues, like bail reform, were discussed as part of the budget process, “But they do that to provide cover for some of their members who can say, ‘Well, it was part of a massive budget bill. I had to vote yes on it,’ or ‘I had to vote no on it,’ however it is. But the bottom line is, is this is probably the biggest topic for New Yorkers everywhere from the tip of Long Island to North Country.”

Borrello added that Governor Kathy Hochul‘s release of a 10-point plan shows that even she’s aware of the need to fix some of the issues happening in courts due to bail reform.

The full comments by Borrello and Goodell will be aired on this Thursday’s Community Matters at 5pm on WRFA.

Jamestown Community College President Dr. Daniel DeMarte and SUNY Fredonia President Dr. Stephen Kolison

Jamestown Community College students may soon be able to complete their bachelor’s degree through SUNY Fredonia on the JCC Jamestown campus.

JCC President Dr. Daniel DeMarte and SUNY Fredonia President Dr. Stephen Kolison made the announcement at the Chautauqua Chamber of Commerce‘s annual meeting.

Dr. Kolison said his staff and DeMarte’s staff have been brainstorming on the idea, “So individuals who are place-bound, individuals who can’t make it to Fredonia, for example, because of family obligations or because of job obligations that they can go right on the campus of JCC and sit in classes and be able to complete their goals.”

Kolison said the SUNY Provost told Friday that the program could begin in Fall 2022. The two programs tentatively being developed are an education and business degree.

United Way of Northern Chautauqua County Executive Director Diane Hannum, United Way of Southern Chautauqua County Executive Director Amy Rohler, Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation Executive Director Adam Dolce, Chautauqua Region Community Foundation Executive Director Tory Irgang

The Chautauqua Chamber of Commerce has presented the 2021 Pam Lydic Coalition Builder Award to the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation, United Way of Northern Chautauqua County and United Way of Southern Chautauqua County.

The organizations were recognized for creating the Chautauqua County Response Fund. This centralized funding pool was used to quickly deploy resources to community-based organizations to address the dramatic economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Since its inception, the Chautauqua County Response Fund has raised more than $1 million from individuals, community organizations, and local foundations.

Each year the Chamber of Commerce presents an honorarium to a charity chosen by the award recipient. This year, the stipend will go to the Capacity Lab, a new shared nonprofit capacity building initiative to be housed at both Chautauqua Region Community Foundation and the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley speaks with new Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Dan Heitzenrater.

When asked what the top three challenges facing Chautauqua County are, Senator Borrello said workforce needs to be our biggest focus,

“I think the fact that we lack the people with the skills to fill the jobs that are here, for the manufacturers and the other companies that are here. Even companies like Athenex which is now ramping up. Having the people who are going to fill those 450 jobs is going to be a challenge.”

Borrello says workforce is the number one issue for businesses looking to locate, relocate or expand.
He cited taxes as second top issue, saying that high taxes are driving businesses and people out of New York State,

“That’s a statewide problem but it particularly hits us here in Western New York particularly in Chautauqua County as we continue to try deal to with the challenges of infrastructure and everything else on top of that tax burden and our taxes.”

Borrello added realtors are seeing high interest in people moving to Chautauqua County from more urban areas and that we have challenges to overcome in order to make sure the area remains attractive,

“If the continued industrialization of our land with these boondoggle green energy projects is going to make this a less and less hospital place for those folks to want to relocate to. And then the challenges with infrastructure like broadband and our child care deserts that we have here throughout the area. Those are basic needs that we need to make sure we can fulfill.”

Assemblyman Goodell agreed that jobs and taxes are main concerns for the county. Goodell said with Federal monies flowing into the state, we won’t see tax increases here over the next year. He said, however, that the property tax cap enacted to cap tax increases is now an impediment to tax cuts,

“Because the tax cap says you can’t raise your taxes above 2% from last year’s tax levy. So a lot of municipalities are afraid to cut taxes because they might not be able to raise them again once this federal stimulus and all these funds come through. We need to provide more flexibility so we can cut taxes more.”

When it comes to jobs, Goodell said the state needs to be more competitive across the board to keep businesses here.