Part of Gov. David Paterson's executive budget announced this week includes big changes to the state's Empire Zone program, the tax incentives offered to businesses to entice them to set up shop in New York state.

The program has for too long been taken advantage of by companies that fail to deliver the investments and jobs they've promised, and we agree with Paterson that rigorous standards need to be put in place, but the state needs to be careful not to make such extraordinary changes to the program that the business climate in New York goes from bad to worse.

In pushing for a greater measurable return for every dollar the state puts into the program, Paterson is also asking that companies already established in the program meet standards they were previously not required to.

Yes, more accountability should be mandatory, but changing the rules so drastically for companies that have already been doing business under the program for five or more years could undermine the economic development climate in ways Paterson hasn't considered.

The most serious potentiality, of course, is that businesses simply pack up and move their operations out of state because they will no longer be able to turn a profit.

The state needs to have some leverage to use against companies that all-out fail to live up to their end of the bargain - and removing them completely from the program has to be one of the options available - but a business that had promised to deliver 125 jobs but has been able to produce only 100 because of the economic recession shouldn't have the rug pulled out from under them.

Paterson is right to push for more oversight on Empire Zone benefits, but the retroactive enforcement of new rules could do more harm than good.