NORWICH Changes made to New York State’s Empire Zone program in this year’s state budget could jeopardize the recertification of as many as seven area businesses, according to local economic development experts.

“In most of these cases there are extenuating circumstances that have resulted in changes to organizational structures, which with more information could be cleared up,” reported Commerce Chenango President Maureen Carpenter, whose organization serves as coordinator for the Greater Norwich Empire Zone. “We intend to work closely with the companies in communicating this to Empire State Development.”

Due to the new statutory requirements dictated in the budget, Empire State Development, the state agency which administers the program designed to encourage business expansion and job growth within designated economic development zones, reviewed all 8,780 certified businesses within 85 designated economic development zones across the state.

Based on that initial review, they identified nearly 2,000 of those businesses as either “not meeting the qualifications for continued certification” or needing to provide additional information to keep their certification.