Category Archives: Economic Development

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.

By Jim Siplon

It is certainly not news to say that the last two years of COVID have reshaped our area economy and the work we do to support it. 

One of the often acknowledged aspects of the COVID era is the observation that the pandemic often exposed and accelerated shifts that were already underway but perhaps not yet fully understood. Our economy and its dynamic elements , things like an aging workforce and a lack of new housing, are perhaps the greatest example of this. Constructing the framework that will underpin the post-COVID economy requires us all to lean into this together-to understand and retool around the “Economy of Now.”

EDC Warren County has long been focused on the strategic work required to attracting, growing and retaining business for our community. Classically, this was a process built around enticing new business to locate here and utilize our workforce to run them. Our programs, incentives and resources were deployed primarily in ways designed to capture transitory or relocating business ventures. 

While that work continues, it is transitioning before our eyes to a model that flips the traditional approach on its head. We are now in a competition for workforce, and those areas that have it will attract and grow the most successful business and economic entities while those that do not will struggle to build a sustainable economy. 

This need for workforce is not new, in fact it has been building slowly in the demographics for years. Baby boomers are aging out, birth rates have declined and flight of our young has been going on for some time. But today this problem is not limited to the North Country or other less populated areas but is now almost universal. 

By Christine Graf

For the past 12 months, the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership (SCPP) has helped more than 1,000 local businesses navigate challenges related to COVID-19. President and CEO Shelby Schneider said the organization hit the ground running during the early days of the pandemic. 

The agency is not membership based and offers assistance to Saratoga County businesses of all sizes.

“We did a survey right away to help understand how the business community was being impacted by the shutdown and what sort of resources they considered to be critical. We also helped quantify how many jobs were being impacted,” she said. “This was the kind of information we were able to push up to our federal and state representatives so that they knew what the issues were. We were able to give them hard data on what the economic impact of the shutdown looked like for our business community.”

The Prosperity Partnership played a vital role in educating local business owners on the resources that were available to them, she said. They held multiple webinars related to Phase 1 of the economic stimulus package which included Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) loans.

“It’s critically important to work with our community, county, state, and federal government to understand federal stimulus packages and make sure we are communicating those to the business community,” said Schneider. “Businesses do what they do well, and navigating a gauntlet of regulatory environment or funding sources is not necessarily something they are aware of.”

By Christine Graf

For the past 42 years, Saratoga Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) has been a driving force for economic growth in Saratoga County. They have helped to generate more than 17,500 new jobs, $12 billion in investment, and $34 million in annual tax revenue for the county.

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was a successful year. The agency worked on 11 projects that resulted in investments of $121.3 million—more than the previous 4 years combined—and the creation and retention of over 1,100 jobs in the county.

SEDC focuses heavily on attracting manufacturing, warehouse and distribution and corporate headquarters to the area.

“We are looking for manufacturing of all kinds,” said SEDC President Dennis Brobston. “But we are precise in targeting companies that offer good paying jobs that are above the national average for the type of jobs we are looking at. We also want companies that have been in existence a long time or have good funding behind them and companies that want to be here long term–companies, like Ball Corp. and Quad Graphics, that are well funded and do a good job of taking care of their people.”

According to Brobston, Saratoga County is an ideal location for warehouse and distribution centers because it is within a day’s drive to just under 40 percent of the entire population of North America.

By Andrea Harwood Palmer

Mandi Marra began her property preservation company out of Ballston Spa four years ago.

“It’s a complicated business. It’s an ever-evolving industry,” said Marra.

The company manages bank owned assets such as foreclosures. M&K Preservation acts as a third party to the bank that owns the foreclosed property, contracting with national mortgage field companies such as Mortgage Contracting Services LLC. They are the eyes and the ears for the company out in the field.

Marra began her career working in the back office of a friend who owned a similar company in a different region.

“I was really inspired by her and the work she did. She taught me how to navigate everything, and I decided to give it a shot for myself,” said Marra. Marra works within an hour radius of Ballston Spa, and works with different national mortgage field companies, to avoid any semblance of competition between the two businesses.

Over time, the company grew to include seven other employees and five company vehicles out on the road. Marra employs her own contractors full time. Each are supplied with a company work truck.

By Christine Graf
A shortage of new, young talent in the workforce is one of the issues the Saratoga Prosperity Partnership deals with, said Shelby Schneider, its new president and CEO.
The economic development organization was established in 2014 to enhance economic growth in Saratoga County.
Schneider, a mother of four who lives in Wilton, earned a degree in management and business administration from Skidmore College. She entered the economic development field in 2000 and spent thirteen years working at Saratoga Economic Development Corporation (SEDC). During her early years at SEDC, she served as the Empire Zone Coordinator. The Empire Zone tax incentive program allowed qualified businesses to take advantage of a variety of tax credits.
“I oversaw the New York state tax incentive program and administered it on behalf of county,” she said.

By Kevin Hedley
I first became involved in the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce at the invitation or more accurately the insistence of Jessica Petraccione of First National Bank of Scotia. The Chamber had just formed its Twin Bridges Council and Jessica was the first person to lead it.
Forming the Twin Bridges Council was part of a larger effort to get more business owners with operations in Clifton Park, Halfmoon, and Mechanicville more involved in the Saratoga County Chamber.
Soon after getting involved in the Twin Bridges Council, I was approached about serving on the Saratoga County Chamber’s board of directors and a year or so later became the organization’s treasurer.
And here we are in 2020 and I’m the volunteer chair of the board of directors of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.
One of the reasons the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce is still thriving as it enters its 102nd year of operation is the fact that it has had tremendous volunteer and professional staff leadership.