New Civic Development Corporation to Benefit Non-Profits and County

The Onondaga County Legislature this afternoon approved the forming of a local development corporation that’s supposed to bring jobs and money to the region. The new Onondaga Civic Development Corporation was created to sell bonds to non-profit organizations in Onondaga County quicker and cheaper than the state can. In its first act, the Civic Corporation will work with St. Joseph’s Hospital to help fund its $220-million expansion on the North Side of Syracuse.

St. Joseph’s is severely overcrowded, and has been planning the estimated three-year expansion for a while, Senior Vice President Kathy Ruscitto said. The project will include a new emergency department, operating room and the only psychiatric emergency unit in the region.

The Civic Corporation will generate a two million dollar profit for the county from interest on the bonds sold to St. Joseph’s over the duration of the project, Ruscitto said. The money from this project and similar projects in the future will be used for economic development, Legislator Sam Laguzza D-Syracuse said.

Laguzza represents the County’s 16^th District where the hospital is located and said he is very excited about the project. It will bring thousands of jobs to the area from specialist doctors to maintenance and construction workers, Laguzza said. “We’ll have the best of the best here now.”

At a time of both national and regional economic problems, Laguzza and Ruscitto agreed that the Civic Corporation came at a good time. “It’s a real win-win for both the county and St. Joe’s,” Ruscitto said.