Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone cited the need for a convention center at a meeting of the Suffolk Alliance of Chambers in Hauppauge Friday.

Bellone joined Suffolk legislators Steve Flotteron and Bridget Fleming in addressing the group of small business owners to discuss economic development efforts and other issues affecting small business here.

“The Ronkonkoma HUB is the biggest example of economic development for the region,” Bellone said. “As a region of 3 million people, Long Island needs a convention center and the site can provide that.”

A convention center is a part of a proposed $1 billion redevelopment of about 86 acres of municipal-owned property on the south side of the Ronkonkoma Long Island Rail Road station .

The county executive also mentioned the current internet fairness proposal in Albany aimed to collect the proper sales tax from e-commerce businesses to level the playing field for Suffolk’s business owners.

“Online competition has been particularly fierce,” Bellone said. “Brick and mortar business are at a disadvantage. We need measures to protect these local stores.”

Other speakers at the event in the H. Lee Dennison building included Vanessa Lockel from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who spoke on its programs for small business; attorney Joshua Bienstock, who covered workplace social media issues; and Albert Brenner from People’s United Bank, who provided an economic report.

Robert Fonti, co-chair of the Suffolk Alliance, said the group serves the Main Street businesses that are “the lifeblood” of our communities.

“We are happy to lead with substantive solutions to complex problems for the small businesses,” said Gina Coletti, the other co-chair of the Suffolk Alliance. “We plan on continuing to communicate connect and collaborate with our local elected officials as well as stakeholders.”

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is proposing to take advantage of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that would allow New York to charge sales tax on all internet sales, potentially adding to the cost of internet purchasing while providing an even playing field for traditional stores.

Cuomo proposes requiring all companies that sell products over the internet to collect state and local sales tax — about 7 percent in much of the state — which he said would result in $250 million in tax revenue to the state per year.

The measure has been sought for years by traditional stores with a physical presence in the state as internet sales grew. A new coalition of chambers of commerce on Long Island, along with Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, plans to lobby for the measure in Albany. The state budget is due April 1. 

Without it, local businesses say they are at a disadvantage as internet-based sellers can avoid charging sales tax. 

"It is counterproductive to principles of fairness, harmful to local economies, bad for Main Street and retail jobs," said Morris Peters, Cuomo’s budget spokesman.

The same bill was defeated last year by the former Republican majority of the state Senate, which called it an added cost for living in New York.

The effort was also stymied nationwide because of 50-year-old trade laws. Those laws prohibited states from forcing internet retailers without “brick-and-mortar” facilities within the state to charge sales tax. That changed in June, when the U.S. Supreme Court removed the requirement that a seller have a physical presence in a state in order to be subject to the state’s sales tax.

"We oppose new taxes, including Governor Cuomo’s proposed new tax on internet purchases," said Scott Reif, spokesman for Senate Republicans, who became the minority party in the chamber this year.

SOURCE:   Newsday  by Michael Gormley