BINGHAMTON – In light of the minimum wage hike that has taken effect in 2017, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he is in the works of creating a task force to travel the state and ensure that businesses are complying with the new minimum wage requirements.

On Tuesday, January 3, Assemblyman Clifford Crouch of Bainbridge blasted the idea, equating the task force to “the governor's personal Gestapo force.”

“It's infuriating,” said Crouch. “I was just at a local Chamber of Commerce event and our businesses are already drowning in regulations and restrictions just dealing with payroll issues, and now this. No wonder our taxpayers and small businesses have such a distrust of this administration and its policies.”

Cuomo announced that the task force will be comprised of 200 people, and it is reportedly unclear whether these are new employees or existing employees who are being asked to investigate small businesses around the state.