CEG Official: Area Counties Seeing Good Economic Growth Compared To Other Areas

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Andrew Kennedy, president and CEO of the Center for Economic Growth.
Courtesy CEG

By Greg Hitchcock
Saratoga County has taken its place as an economic powerhouse trending to continue growing into 2019, with nearby Warren and Washington counties benefiting from this growth.
According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, 17 counties in New York state had employment gains from June 2017 to June 2018 with Saratoga County having the largest gain up 2.7 percent.
“All three counties have grown their private sector over the last five years with GlobalFoundries kicking off this growth,” said Andrew Kennedy, president and chief executive officer of the Center for Economic Growth, an economic and business development agency serving as a primary point of contact for businesses interested in growing in or moving to the Capital Region.

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Saratoga County IDA Helps New And Existing Businesses Fund Important Projects

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GlobalFoundries in Malta is among the companies the Saratoga County Industrial Development Agency helped bring to the area via tax incentive packages.
©2019 Saratoga Photographer.com

By Christine Graf
The Saratoga County Industrial Development Agency, a public benefit corporation created to encourage the construction and expansion of industrial and commercial facilities, is a key cog in the economic development efforts in Saratoga County.
Since beginning operations in 1980, the IDA has approved financing arrangements for 119 projects.
“Those are the ones that have been approved and assisted financially. There have been a number that have not even been considered,” said IDA Administrator Michael Valentine. “There is an application process, a review process and certain standards that somebody coming in needing assistance has to go through.”

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County Airport Among Those Getting Grants For Development, Modernization Projects

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Saratoga County Airport was awarded $719,000 from the state for economic development and modernization projects. It will be used for a new snow removal equipment storage facility.
©2019 Saratoga Photographer.com

New York state is putting $23.6 million in infrastructure funding to support safety enhancements, modernization of facilities, operational improvements and local business development at 31 airports statewide.
These projects are funded through the state Aviation Capital Grant Program initiative and complement the Upstate Airport Economic Development and Revitalization Competition, which provided $200 million to modernize airports across Upstate.
“New York’s airports represent the front door to our local communities and are critical to facilitating tourism and business development,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “A world-class airport is crucial to regional economic growth, and by investing in the modernization of our local airports we are creating vibrant communities where people want to live, work and play.”

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Local Woman Uses Restaurant Experience To Create ‘The Food Florist’ In Ballston Spa

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Tricia Nussbaum opened The Food Florist, which has a retail location in Ballston Spa and a food truck goes to farmers markets, local schools and businesses.
©2019 Saratoga Photographer.com

By Christine Graf
Three years ago, Tricia Nussbaum opened The Food Florist in Ballston Spa. She described her business as a mobile food company.
The Food Florist food truck she operates is available to go to farmers markets, local schools and businesses. She also sells frozen, oven-ready meals at a retail locations. All food is made from scratch with a combination of local, organic, and all-natural ingredients, she said.

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Woman Operates Two Businesses, Working With Wellness Issues And Company Branding

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Antoinette DiMascio is chief financial officer of Newkey Media Solutions.
©2019 Saratoga Photographer.com

By Susan E. Campbell
Media marketing solutions and health and wellness services are being covered in the career of Antoinette DiMascio.
DiMascio is chief financial officer of Newkey Media Solutions and founder of Newkey Esthetics and Wellness in Ballston Lake, two seemingly disparate businesses. Yet there is an overarching theme under which she connects them—relationship enrichment.
“Whether building a brand or employing therapeutic techniques, it’s still about working on a relationship,” said DiMascio, who is a licensed cosmetologist and asethetician, a certified yoga instructor, and a doctoral candidate in metaphysics and religious studies.

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Brown Teaches Quickbooks, But Also Offers Coaching, Training For Small Businesses

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Linda Brown of Spire Business Inc. trains and educates small business owners.
Courtesy Linda Brown

By Christine Graf
Linda Brown of Spire Business, Inc. never set out to start her own business. She had a successful career in money management and financial planning when she took a maternity leave in 2002.
While on leave, a CPA asked her if she could help some of his clients with QuickBooks.
“I never went back to corporate America,” she said. “As a financial planner, you work 70 hours a week and I really didn’t want to do that.”

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For Banks, Customer Service Means Keeping Up With The Latest Advances In Technology

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Charles Wait. Jr., executive vice president of Adirondack Trust Co.
Courtesy Adirondack Trust

By Jill Nagy
Customer service is important to any business, including banks. So keeping up with the latest in technology is important, as banks compete to retain and draw customers.
Online apps that allow customers to make deposits, move money to other people’s accounts, as well as check their own accounts; ATM’s that accept cash deposits and return a photographic record of a check deposit; and branches smaller and more streamlined that offer a range of financial services, including insurance and investment services, are all services banks now offer.
To eliminate telephone customers waiting “on hold,” Saratoga National Bank has made employees more available with direct lines and company-issued cellphones. Customers can reach them easily and anytime, said David DeMarco, the bank’s CEO.

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Business Report: Roth IRA And Traditional IRA

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Kevin M. Hedley is a partner with Hedley & Co. PLLC.

By Kevin M. Hedley
2018 was a year that most people who watch the financial markets are likely going to want to forget. There were few positive numbers across the different asset classes and sectors. At the broadest level the U.S. bond market was the only market to see a positive return—all of one basis point.
It was an unusual year with few places to find a positive return. In fact of the eight major asset classes none of them provided a return above 2 percent – the first time since 1972. Even in 2008, at least one asset class saw a return around 5 percent
And another point on how extraordinary the end of the year was, December’s 9.2 percent drop was second worst December on record after 1931.

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NY State Of Health Program Sees Huge Gain In Enrollment; New Plan Options Cited

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NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan marketplace, as experienced “overwhelming success” with New York’s Small Business Marketplace (SBM) following implementation of a simplified enrollment process and the addition of thousands of new plan options in April 2018, according to the Department of Health.
Since then, the number of small employers participating in the SBM has grown to 12,219, an increase of 465 percent, officials said. Greater plan choice and easier access to the federal Small Business Health Care Tax Credit have contributed to the rapid growth.

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Albany Med Biomedical Research Arm Will Get Boost From $250K National Grid Grant

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A regional economic initiative to bring biomedical innovations to market was awarded a $250,000 economic development grant from National Grid.
The Biomedical Acceleration and Commercialization Center (BACC) at Albany Medical College received a grant from National Grid to provide direct financial assistance to BACC biomedical start-up companies for commercialization needs and access to experts. It will also help support the BACC’s entrepreneurs in the arenas of clinical trials, prototype development, marketing and hiring consultants for regulatory needs, officials said.

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