By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York state is providing the tools but ultimately it will be up to local leaders to bring change to Western New York.

Cuomo was in Buffalo Jan. 25 as part of a statewide tour to promote his reform-heavy budget of $131.9 billion. He said the future depends on how leaders respond to his challenge and assistance through, among other things, the $1 billion he pledged in an economic development incentive package.

But the region also needs a stronger response with other state measures, according to Cuomo, including mandated evaluations for teachers - something that none of New York's 758 public school districts have incorporated.

"We need to take the successes (of the past year) and use them as a platform to build on," the governor told several hundred people in the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, including political and business leaders. "This plan is for you."

He wants the $1 billion in economic development aid to Buffalo to be transformative, but how it turns the region around will ultimately be up to local leaders.

Cuomo pledged $1 billion in the State of the State address Jan. 4. Ideally, he said, he wants to see the money into a $5 billion private-sector investment in the form of bricks-and-mortar projects and new jobs.

Why Buffalo?

The city has the third-highest poverty level in the country, he noted, with 28 percent of residents below the poverty line. It also has seen a 10.7 percent decline in population.

"When Buffalo does well, we all do well," Cuomo said. "If I'm investing in Buffalo, I'm investing in the 'family of New York.' "

The money won't all be hard cash. It will come in the form of job-training grants, low-cost hydropower and incentives for private investment.

Cuomo said he hopes Buffalo will mirror what happened in Albany when the state and city and the private sector jointly invested in nanotechnology development. That turnaround happened over years, not weeks or months, he said.

"We did it in Albany, we can do it Buffalo," Cuomo said.

He wants the Regional Development Council to oversee how the money gets invested. Last year he put together the group, headed by University at Buffalo President Satish Tripathi and businessman Howard Zemsky. In 2011 it won $100.3 million in state funding for 96 regional projects. It will also be working on securing additional funds through a $200 million pool Cuomo has included in his current budget proposal.

He urged local leaders to champion the economic development initiative.

"The people are going to have to stand up," he said. "Change starts when you decide it's time to make the change. Let's seize the opportunity."

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said he thinks the region understands Cuomo's mandate and challenge.

"The governor said it's in our hands now," Poloncarz said. "We're the ones who are going to have to make it happen."

In his first year as governor, Cuomo was able to close a $10 billion budget gap and get a state budget approved by the April 1 deadline. The gap was closed by tightening New York's spending andit was completed without raising taxes.

Last year, he saw a 2 percent property tax rate cap approved by state lawmakers, as well as the marriage equality act that made gay and lesbian marriages legal. He also was successful in adjusting New York's income tax levels.

In this year's proposed budget, Cuomo said he wants to invest $50 billion in tourism-based initiatives, including funds to expand the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.

He also is pushing for the state to allow privately run casinos to expand as a means to add funds to the state budget. The Seneca Nation of Indians said it would support such an effort if Cuomo agrees to honor its 2002 compact and keep future casino expansion outside of Western New York's 14 counties. The Seneca Nation has exclusive rights to operate casinos in those counties and has three such operations in Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Salamanca.

The governor noted that New York already allows casino gaming by having "racino" operations at several horse racing tracks at Hamburg Raceway. Racinos have video slot-like terminals and no table games.

"We're in the casino business already. We just spell it with an 'R,' " he said.

Any such action would need approval from state lawmakers during two consecutive years, followed by a public referendum.

"Let's acknowledge the reality," he said.

The final portion of his 35-minute speech was spent on urging people to join in his push for mandated public school teacher evaluations, opposed by some unions.

The evaluations are central to Cuomo's push for more of the allocated education dollars spent on students, not on salaries and pension benefits.

Education in New York is a $20 billion-a-year business.

"The only group in Albany that has no lobbyists are the students," Cuomo said. "I'm going to be the students' lobbyist."

His current budget offers a 4 percent increase in aid to school districts - but only if they agree to teacher evaluations.

"No evaluation system means you won't get the money," he said. "It's that simple. The bureaucracy will not reform itself."