DelCo Chamber Urges Lawmakers to Prevent Unemployment Insurance Premium Hikes

The Delaware County Chamber of Commerce joined nearly 30 other organizations on Nov. 16, in urging state lawmakers to take measures to avoid increases in unemployment insurance premiums that will have a negative impact on already over-burdened small businesses.

Under the leadership of  NFIB (National Federation of Independent Businesses), the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce asked lawmakers to allocate any remaining federal CARES Act funding to New York’s depleted unemployment insurance trust fund and to provide future federal funding to bolster the trust balance to reduce large increases in state unemployment insurance taxes. 

Lawmakers are also being urged to prevent unemployment insurance claims arising from COVID 19 to be included in business experience rating charges and delay any automatic unemployment insurance tax increase or stagger increases over time.

Economic recovery is a long way off with hundreds of Delaware County businesses desperately trying to survive, said Ray Pucci, president of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce. Unemployment insurance premium increases will further negatively impact small businesses which are the backbone of Delaware County’s local economy, Pucci said.

Between March and September, the New York State Department of Labor has provided almost $40 billion in unemployment benefits to more than 3.3 million New Yorkers, which, according to the Department of Labor, is over 18 years worth of benefits in just over five months. New York has also borrowed $7.9 billion from the federal government to pay unemployment insurance benefits, which will need to be repaid unless it is forgiven. 

With a long road to recovery, New York must make every effort to limit and mitigate damaging cost increases for businesses, Pucci said. 

The Delaware County Chamber of Commerce is a broad-based, member-funded business organization that actively represents the business interests of Delaware County to county, state and federal government.

For more information about how the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, its programs and benefits, visit delawarecounty.org or call 607.746.2281