By Dennis Brobston
Here we are again at the start of a new year, but nothing was like last year, right? 2020 is over and while it was a strange and upsetting year, it did present many businesses with opportunities.
We were thrust into unknowns and our businesses proved responsive with resilience to quickly regroup and rebound beyond their own expectations of abilities. Many SEDC members provided vital supplies to other industries to keep their workforce and worksites safe.
For Saratoga Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), it was the busiest year since the days of 2009.
Why 2009? That was when GlobalFoundries broke ground and our attraction efforts were immersed in the semiconductor industry! And since 2009, in addition to GlobalFoundries and the industry awakening in our region, an additional 15,000 jobs of all types were created in Saratoga County.
Saratoga County has to experience continued business and job growth in order to raise the finances to support the services our residents have come to rely upon and deserve. The successful past efforts of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, our cities, towns and villages have paid dividends in keeping our county the lowest taxed in New York state.
Our continued partnership with the Saratoga County, Clifton Park and Mechanicville-Stillwater IDAs provides the local support to entice retention and the creation of jobs. In our 43 year existence, SEDC helped over 300 companies grow here in Saratoga County.
SEDC’s efforts in 2020 produced more investment for Saratoga County than the previous four years combined! $121.3 million of investment retained 447 jobs and enabled the creation of 698 new jobs.

BY PETE BARDUNIAS
When the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County (CSSC) affiliated with the Capital Region Chamber amid much fanfare at the beginning of 2020, the coronavirus was a mere footnote on a few overseas news reports.
Yet just weeks after our expanded team working in Clifton Park began settling in together, the health crisis hit, changing perhaps forever the dynamic of how people in our industry support the local and regional business community.
One thing is for certain: the integration of the chambers couldn’t have possibly come at a more meaningful time. The Capital Region Chamber provided strength and stability, offering CSSC members and the southern Saratoga County business community a lot of services that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
Because of the large, combined staff, members were able to receive direct personal support via one-on-one consultation, along with getting assistance in locating PPE and advice in the PPP and EIDL loan processes. Some 775 individuals participated in 25 free webinars we hosted on topics specifically related to helping businesses and their employees through the pandemic.
Additionally, our Chamber is administering the new $8 million loan fund to assist affected businesses. Like all nonprofits, the Capital Region Chamber and its affiliates were impacted by the economic effects of the pandemic, but has the resources to ride the storm far better than the pre-affiliation CSSC ever could hope to achieve, which is very positive for area businesses.
It gives me great pride to be able to state with certainty that there are businesses still operating in Saratoga County today because of the work we did specifically to assist them this past year.

By Doug Ford
As I prepare to write this article regarding the construction outlook for 2021, I can’t help but think about all that has transpired since I wrote last year’s column. At that time, no one could have predicted what lay ahead just a few short weeks after the story went to print.
As we move into this much anticipated new year, many of the challenges I outlined for 2020 still exist and have only become more complicated due to COVID-19. Despite all the obstacles the construction industry endured, they stilled fared better than most. In the Northeast, and even closer to home, construction has been strong throughout the pandemic, in part driven by new home construction and remodeling.
Unfortunately, we cannot look forward without at least looking back briefly. It all started in March when the COVID-19 infection rates escalated and Gov. Cuomo shutdown construction for the entire state, lumping Upstate New York in with New York City.
Most industry affiliated organizations and legislators understand that upstate and the city are very different so much debate ensued to handle them differently. As a result of being shut down, most of the skilled laborers were laid off and joined many others in the unemployment pool. There were several weeks of uncertainty as builders and remodelers tried to make sense of what was unfolding in front of them.

By Todd Shimkus
I first heard the phrase “building a plane while flying it” on April 2, a teleconference was organized for local banking leaders to discuss the roll out of the PPP program.
The next day, local banks and their employees would begin helping thousands of local businesses to get these loans. These loans, if used correctly, would be forgiven. But as this teleconference began, the SBA had not given the banks a set of rules to follow or an application to use.
To describe the situation, Steve Bulger, regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Atlantic Region, said, “Look everyone. We’re trying to build a plane while flying it.”
He noted that this meant we all needed to do the best we could with the information we had. Everyone on the call wanted to get this money into the hands of local businesses.
We all agreed this was vital. They’d have an application. They’d have rules. If they needed to be changed, the SBA would change them as we went forward. Over time, in fact, they did. The next round of PPP loans will have different rules than this first round. It’s been improved over time.
In 2020, you could have used this quote for virtually everything. Every employer, nonprofit, and public agency had to build their own plane while flying it. I think every family and every individual was doing the same. Our way of life changed.
Our way of conducting business changed. We’re using telemedicine more than ever before. Our children are being educated differently. We’re doing take-out more than ever before. We celebrated birthdays and holidays different this year. We’re wearing masks and social distancing. What we can do or should do is changing all the time.

By Kenneth J. Entenmann
This past year was an interesting one, to say the least. Though some may prefer to use other adjectives to describe 2020. COVID-19 provided a vast disruption of economic activity, with U.S. GDP declining 31.7 percent in the second quarter.
However, the U.S. economy demonstrated remarkable resiliency and rebounded 32.7 percent in the third quarter. While the economy continued to grow in the fourth quarter, activity did slow, particularly in the labor markets. It is estimated that the full year 2020 U.S. GDP will decline around 3-5 percent.
As we flip the calendar to 2021, great uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 remains. Nonetheless, our 2021 economic outlook remains optimistic.
There is no doubt that the COVID-19 economic disruption has endured longer than most anticipated. The hope of a short duration event prompted by the quick “flattening of the curve” in the spring soon dissipated as COVID spiked in the summer and again during the holiday season. Portions of the country remain in lockdown with severe economic consequences.
However, the vaccines are slowly making an impact and it is widely expected that the vaccination process will accelerate. This provides hope that a return to economic normalcy is coming although the timing is still uncertain. COVID will negatively impact the economy at least through the first quarter, probably into the second. However, the economy is poised for a very strong second half of the year.

By Shelby Schneider
Who knew this time last year that a pandemic would upend our lives and economies? Essentially, no one. We cannot say with any certainty how 2021 will turn out—but we do know more than we did last spring and, that there is hope and opportunity on the horizon.
Among the reasons for optimism is the prospect of widespread vaccination, and federal stimulus relief for our small businesses and state and local governments. For every problem created by COVID-19, there is an opportunity in disguise.
With the new year upon us, there are potential new opportunities to take advantage of and ways to adapt to challenges that our businesses and municipalities will face. There is an opportunity for 2021 to be the year of a remarkable bounce-back.
In Saratoga County our hospitality and tourism sector and arts and cultural venues, which generate over a billion dollars in revenue each year, experienced the worst of the impact. The good news is if enough Americans are vaccinated, it is plausible to expect a comeback in those sectors later this year.
If our public and private sector businesses work together to help coordinate the delivery of the vaccine to our workforce and the public, we will mitigate impacts to our economy and get to a new normal in the most efficient way.
In 2021, business retention and expansion will remain our highest priority. Like 2020, the Saratoga Partnership will be on the front lines, helping our small businesses gain access to the next round of PPP and EIDL funds, and help them get access to state and local relief programs like the personal protection equipment grants offered through our Industrial development agencies.