Local Business Owners Wary of Obama's Jobs Plan

While President Barack Obama continues his national tour promoting his $450 billion jobs plan proposed earlier this month, local business owners debate its merits.

"This jobs bill and this administration is causing fear, confusion and uncertainty in the marketplace,” said Howard Hellwinkel, owner of Hunt Country Components, a furniture manufacturer headquartered in North Salem with production facilities near High Pointe, NC.

The package of proposals include provisions for spending on infrastructure projects like school repair and bridges and highways, which accounts for almost half of the legislation, according to a White House press release.

The other half aims to help the unemployed find work and small businesses to grow, with temporary payroll tax cuts, incentives for hiring veterans and for investing in equipment and facilities. 

But at least a few employers in the area say creating jobs isn't that easy.

Peter Mill, owner of Bell Office Furniture in Bedford Hills, said he had no plans to expand his current staff of nine employees.

"It's a struggle to keep those nine employed," he said. "We'll make do with what we have." 

Hellwinkel said he wouldn't bring anyone on if he didn't have the business to support new hires.

"What businesses need is more money in consumer pockets, which would create a customer base for our goods," he said about his company, which does $10 million in sales annually and has 40 employees. Though he was encouraged by a part of the bill which provides a cut in payroll taxes that would put about $1,550 into the pockets of a family earning $50,000 annually, Hellwinkel said the administration could do more.

"They could be encouraging a pro-business climate. Banks have the money but are not lending."

Expanding the payroll tax cut for workers will be partially paid for by increasing taxes for the most wealthy Americans, the New York Times reported last week, and that will hurt some businesses who provide services, said Gary Murphy, co-owner of the Maid Brigade housecleaning service with clients throughout Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties.

"When you take money out of their pockets, they lose discretionary income and don't spend," he said. "When there is a demand for services, we'll hire. And demand is dictated by how prosperous we are as a country, not by giving any artificial incentives like ‘cash for clunkers.'"

Murphy added that even with a tax break, he wouldn't be purchasing new equipment for Maid Brigade, a 15-year-old company with 47 employees.

"We spent the last few years becoming 'lean and mean,' solving problems creatively, thinking outside the box, doing more with less," he said.

Jan Corning, vice president of operations at in Bedford Hills, echoed those statements, saying hiring takes place when there is need—and the need may not exist in the current financial climate.

"We've been impacted by the economy just like everyone else," she said of the 25-year-old residential construction company with 40 employees. “We have to have sustainable projects in order to hire, not tax credits."

Other business owners said the jobs plan was misguided and the money would be better spent on other initatives stimulating manufacturing in the U.S.

"Why not spend the funds on research and development of products that could be produced here?" said John Castiglia, owner of J & L Manufacturing in Bedford Hills, which produces parts for the diagnostic medical equipment and aerospace industries. 

"Not everyone can be building roads and bridges, and we have to stop sending jobs to India and China,” he said. "We need products to manufacture here."

Castiglia noted some measures included in the bill he thought were positive, such as the extension of unemployment benefits, which "costs money but people without work need something to live on."

Corning acknowledged that overall, the bill could provide some opportunities for small businesses, but it would take a while for them to trickle down.