New York State Subsidy Tracker -

ProPublica

New York State Subsidy Tracker

Tracking the State’s Growing Portfolio of Business Subsidies

By Masako Melissa Hirsch for ProPublica, Cezary Podkul, and Sisi Wei ProPublica, March 27, 2017.

In collaboration with Investigative Post and The New York World at the Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University

Across New York, state and local governments provide tax breaks, cash grants, discounted power and other subsidies to promote economic development. Companies are usually required to add jobs in exchange for such assistance. However, information on these subsidy deals is not centralized or made readily available to the public. Related Story »

We have created the most comprehensive list of subsidies awarded by 12 major New York programs from 2011 to 2014. Use this database to explore which companies received state and local subsidies, how much they received and the jobs they promised in return.

Note: Investigative Post and The Times Union of Albany are co-publishing a series of stories focusing on New York State’s subsidy programs.

Top Companies

The companies that have been awarded the most subsidies from the programs we track. Select a company for details.

$370.9M

ALCOA

1 subsidary

$139.1M

ENERGY CAPITAL PARTNERS

2 subsidaries

$130.8M

$113.4M

$92.7M

$80.6M

TIME WARNER INC

7 subsidaries

$77.1M

CORNING INC

2 subsidaries

$76.6M

$73.7M

$72.8M

Subsidy Programs

Total awards from each program. Select a program to see individual subsidies.

$2.2B

$705.3M

$631.7M

$540.1M

$525.2M

$320.0M

$206.6M

$99.4M

$30.4M

$19.7M

$11.3M

$56.6K

Source: Data on subsidies from the Excelsior Jobs Program, Industrial Development Agencies and Local Development Corporations are sourced from New York’s open data portal. IDA data accessed on July 21, 2016. LDC data accessed on Feb. 21, 2017. All other program data sourced from agency reports and Freedom of Information requests to Empire State Development, the state’s economic development arm, and other state agencies. Download the raw program data in the ProPublica Data Store.

Additional data collection and cleaning Sean Kevin Campbell, Lindsay Ireland, Kristin Steve, Kevin Sun from Columbia University, and Charlotte Keith, from Investigative Post. Additional design and development by Lena Groeger.

Methodology: Read our methodology for collecting the data.

Notes:

Except where otherwise noted, data is for subsidies granted or given out between 2011 and 2014 under the above-named programs. While these programs comprise a significant cross-section of the state’s growing portfolio of economic development programs, they don’t include every subsidy dollar.

Subsidies tracked include grants, tax breaks, low-cost leases and discounted power allocations given out under each program; loans and bond issues are excluded from the data because they have to be repaid.

The number of corporate subsidiaries reflects only the subsidiaries we were able to verify though our research. Companies may have more connections with other companies not listed in the data.

IDA and LDC subsidies are given out by local entities; all other programs are administered by New York State.