Courtesy Saratoga Economic Development Corp.
By Dennis Brobston
One of our beloved presidents, Abraham Lincoln, once said “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” That is our belief at Saratoga Economic Development Corp. (SEDC).
Creating Saratoga County’s economic development future has been our mission for over 43 years of existence. Working with SEDC to create our economic future are many partners: Saratoga County and local governments, Saratoga County businesses large and small, our Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs), universities and colleges and our K-12 school districts, to name a few. Over the last decade, SEDC and our stakeholders helped to create over 1,700 new jobs with over $170 million in payroll while retaining over 2,050 existing jobs at Saratoga County companies.
The year 2021 was another strange year as we all continued to adapt thru the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Like 2020, we were thrust into uncharted waters for supporting our existing businesses in Saratoga County while marketing our region for new and exciting companies looking for fertile ground to grow their businesses. And like 2020, this past year of 2021 proved to be another banner year delivering over $110 million in new investment while creating 182 new jobs and over $11.5 million in payroll.
Over the last two years, we have supported $232 million of investment creating over 629 jobs with over $38 million in new payroll while retaining 730 existing jobs. The years 2020 and 2021 are the first back-to-back years with more than $100 million investment in our 43-year history. We are thankful for all of the projects that allowed us to excel during this pandemic.
Promoting Saratoga County’s sites and buildings to site selectors across the country and throughout Europe will continue in 2022. Our efforts to create more product (pre-zoned sites and buildings) continue as we work with our municipalities eyeing this type of growth. “On spec” flex space is being built regularly in Saratoga County and the support of the Saratoga County IDA and the Town of Clifton Park IDA is vital to that continuing.
The rising costs of steel and building materials make it difficult to develop without the incentives our IDAs use to support new growth. Prospects require pre-approved sites and buildings in order to meet increasingly tight deadlines to produce and distribute products. We appreciate working with our planning boards and staff, property owners, developers and real estate associates as prospects look to us for guidance on efficient turnarounds for projects.
Retention of our existing inventory of businesses is an ongoing, daily effort and has become very challenging during the pandemic. In-person meetings are at best sporadic and getting the owners and/or C-Suite leaders who are dealing with understaffing or quarantine issues to teleconference or video conference is difficult.
Our goal in these conversations is to understand their concerns as they operate in Saratoga County and New York state. Costs that affect their bottom lines are ones we are all familiar with. Property taxes, utility costs, workers compensation and other labor costs are just a few of the operating costs we discuss with those companies. Understanding their concerns as early as possible allows us and our stakeholders to communicate to our elected officials at the local, state and federal levels so they can be helpful in bringing costs under control or develop programs to lessen the load on the businesses. This process is important not only in 2022, but imperative for continued growth!
Our Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) efforts continued throughout this pandemic. Even though we haven’t seen many prospects in-person due to travel restrictions, we have progressed our marketing efforts to consistently position the Saratoga County region for opportunities that complement our existing businesses. Ireland continues to be one of the top 10 countries investing in the USA.
Our plans for 2022 continue as we bring a dozen or so Ireland based companies here for a FAM Tour (Familiarization Tour) of Saratoga County and the Capital Region in partnership with TradeBright. The companies chosen for the delegation have been through an intense vetting process to make sure their financial position and growth needs fit what SEDC is looking for in new prospects.
We seek companies to complement our existing diverse industry base of Saratoga County. Our target markets for these FDI prospects mirror ones we have been promoting in the last four to five years: advanced materials manufacturing, food and beverage manufacturing, life sciences and equine. Our partnership with the Irish Ambassador and his embassy team continues to flourish. Some 80 percent of businesses expanding into the U.S. from Ireland are vetted through the embassy.
These opportunities not only bring complementary industries; they support our professional service providers and bring additional opportunities to support the overall economic eco systems. Bright days are ahead for our FDI efforts.
SEDC’s commitment to coordinate productive partners has resulted in employable program launches. We are directly involved with CTE advisory committees, participatory in initiatives across industry sectors that bring awareness to opportunities with our existing businesses, connecting partners to provide training programs where gaps have been identified, etc. We are committed to supporting our workforce development and educational partners as they provide programs that mutually benefit our residents and industries.
As a 501c3 nonprofit organization, SEDC is funded by stakeholders (including many Saratoga County and Capital Region businesses) as well as marketing funding from the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors. SEDC stakeholders invest their financial support and share their knowledge making SEDC’s efforts to market Saratoga County so successful. These altruistic business leaders’ investment helps us to sustain and grow the economy of Saratoga County knowing they, and many others, will be benefactors in the dynamic economy as well.