Keep Those Cameras Rolling
Provide New Funds For Film Tax Rebates

In an amazing turnabout, the Bloomberg mayoral administration, which a couple of years ago was turning cartwheels to attract movie and television producers to city locales to film their shows, is now balking about continuing the tax rebate program that in the past two years has made the multifaceted industry the fastest growing employment source in the city.

But the embarrassing rags to riches story experienced by the city administration

has had an opposite affect on virtually

every lawmaker, city and state, that we've spoken with. The solons are telling the Gazette that they favor expanding the state-city tax rebate program in order to keep the film producers working here and helping to build our economy.

The Gazette couldn't agree more. Queens is one of the best advertisements for continuing and expanding the program. The borough is home to two fabulous movie success stories-the Kaufman Astoria Studios and the Silvercup Studios-which have brought economic benefits to many local businesses and a touch of glamour to our everyday life.

The problem facing the Bloomberg administration is that in the past year or so, the $50 million allotted to fund the program over a four-year period has already been used up. In parallel action, the state has also used up most of the $125 million intended to carry the program over a fiveyear stretch.

State officials have just about agreed to make adjustments, appropriate more funds and keep doing business as usual. But the city wants to tinker with the program and is talking about reining in some of the benefits for television shows that were working here even before the tax rebate program started.

The important thing for the Bloomberg administration to keep in mind as it wrestles with this dilemma is that there is every indication that the few million dollars more that may be needed to keep the cameras rolling would be extremely well spent. There's no boondoggling here, just a pleasant result of a successful effort that, for a change, is accomplishing just what it was intended to do.