Category Archives: Business News

The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce will present Tom Roohan, principal broker and president of Roohan Realty in Saratoga Springs with the 2019 Joseph Dalton Community Service Award.

The award will be presented at the Chamber’s 101st annual dinner on Thursday, Jan. 24 at the Saratoga Springs City Center,

Roohan is just the second person to be presented the award. The first was presented at the Chamber’s 100th annual dinner last year to Steve “Sully” Sullivan, owner of the Olde Bryan Inn and Longfellows Inn & Conference Center.

“We were looking to honor and recognize people who, for more than 25 years, have been forward deployed, meaning they’ve contributed to the community by volunteering their time, energy, and expertise not just their money,” said Brian Straughter, 2018 chairman of the board of directors.

Roohan has volunteered for dozens of organizations over the past 40 years with his first volunteer experience coming as a life guard for the Saratoga YMCA, in 1971. His first leadership role as a volunteer was as a bingo captain for Saratoga Central High School, coordinating monthly tournaments to raise money for the school. Recently, he was honored by the American Red Cross as a Real Hero for donating 94 pints of blood and encouraging other family, friends, and coworkers to join him at local blood donation events.

Roohan currently volunteers on the Saratoga Hospital board of directors, the NYRA Local Advisory Board and the Saratoga Springs Special Assessment District. He is the volunteer chair of both the Luther Forest Technology Campus and the Saratoga Springs City Center Authority. He is a past president of the Saratoga Central High School board of directors; a past president of the Saratoga Hospital Foundation; past president of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick; a member of the Saratoga County Planning Board; a YMCA Trustee; and was named the 1998 Leadership Saratoga Distinguished Alumni award winner.

By Jennifer Farnsworth

The owner of Clark’ Steakhouse and the Schuyler Yacht Basin has teamed up with a friend as the new owners of  Olde Saratoga Wine and Spirits in Schuylerville.

Jason Young said when the opportunity came to him to operate a third business, he knew it was something he wanted to be a part of.

Young and his friend, Chip Lawrence, met four years ago and found success flipping houses together. He said the owner of Olde Saratoga Wine and Spirits was looking to sell the business at the same time that a Stewart’s was up for sale, so he and Lawrence decided to purchase and relocate Olde Saratoga. The store moved from Ferry Street to 158 Broad St. in the fall, just in time for the holidays, a move Young said was lucrative for the business.

Redbud Development of Wilton was named a winner of the Most Innovative in the Remodeler category and the Best Outdoor Living Space in the Kitchens, Hardscape and Pool Area category at the recent Capital Region Builders & Remodelers Association’s (CRBRA) 2018 Best in Building Awards.

The sixth annual Best in Building Awards honored excellence and innovation in residential building, remodeling, design and marketing.

“We are honored and thrilled to have won two awards from such a prestigious and well-respected organization in our field,” said Geffrey Redick, landscape architect and owner of Redbud Development. “Blurring the lines between outdoors and indoors is where we shine, and we love creating beautiful spaces that feature incredible architectural details. Working closely with our clients to produce a stunning outcome is not only a key part of our process, it is also incredibly rewarding.”

“I’ve worked very closely with Geffrey, and you only have to tell him your vision once. He comes up with these amazing ideas. It’s almost like he can tell what I’m thinking,” said Joey Albarelli, a long-time client of Redbud.

Carissa A. Conley, CPA

With the newly lowered corporate tax rate, many pass-through businesses are wondering if they should now convert to a C Corporation. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) reduced the corporate tax rate from a maximum of 35 percent to a flat rate of 21 percent and eliminated the corporate AMT.

Meanwhile, income of pass-through entities is taxed at the individual taxpayer level which is still based on graduated rates up to a maximum of 37 percent. While this initially sounds like a no-brainer, in most cases, small businesses will be still pay less tax as a pass-through entity.

Even though a C Corporation is only taxed on its net income at a rate of 21 percent now, there is still the issue of double taxation when shareholders take dividend distributions. Depending on the shareholder’s tax bracket, these dividends which have already been taxed at 21 percent, are now taxed again at a rate up to 20 percent (for those in the highest tax bracket) plus another 3.8 percent for Net Investment Income tax.

This brings the effective tax rate on dividends to 39.8 percent, which is higher than the maximum individual tax rate of 37 percent. Note that this is only considering the federal tax and there would be additional tax at the state level for both the corporation and the shareholder.