{"id":16143,"date":"2015-01-07T18:55:44","date_gmt":"2015-01-07T23:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/01\/economic-outlook-2015---todd-shimkus.html"},"modified":"2015-01-07T18:55:44","modified_gmt":"2015-01-07T23:55:44","slug":"economic-outlook-2015-todd-shimkus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/01\/economic-outlook-2015-todd-shimkus\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic Outlook 2015 – Todd Shimkus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"toddshimkus-hsc.jpg\"\n<\/div>\n
Todd Shimkus, president, Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

BY TODD SHIMKUS<\/p>\n

Looking forward to 2015, I see five trends that
\nI expect will help to drive our economy forward.<\/p>\n

Opening Doors. In 2014, one measurement of
\nour economy’s growth is that the Saratoga County
\nChamber of Commerce took part in 80 ribbon cuttings
\nall across Saratoga County. Armed with one of
\nthe largest pairs of scissors you’ll ever see, we went
\nto more ribbon cuttings in 2014 than ever before.<\/p>\n

We believe in opening doors and closing deals and
\nwe did a lot of that in 2014. This is a positive sign for
\nthe future of Saratoga County given that so many
\npeople are willing to invest in local operations and
\nto create local jobs.<\/p>\n

Closing Deals. A number of these ribbon cuttings
\nwere held at businesses that obtained professional
\nadvice and support from the Chamber’s
\nSCORE program. With 12 talented and experienced
\nvolunteers, our SCORE program is one of the most
\nvibrant anywhere. Demand for their free and confidential
\nadvice has been on the rise for many years.<\/p>\n

So much so that our SCORE volunteers now
\nmeet with clients in our Chamber’s offices in
\nSaratoga Springs as well as at Hudson Valley Community
\nCollege’s Tech Smart Facility, in Malta.<\/p>\n

Due to confidentiality issues, you may not realize
\nhow many businesses are helped by our SCORE
\nvolunteers but we’re sure that most readers have
\npassed by if not done business with at least one or
\nmore of their clients on a regular basis. We have
\nevery expectation that this trend will continue
\nand that small businesses and entrepreneurs will
\ncontinue to seek out their advice before investing
\nand helping to grow our local economy.<\/p>\n

Everyone on the Map. The supply of available
\nhotel rooms across Saratoga County increased in
\n2014 and it will again in 2015 and 2016. For the past
\nsix quarters, Saratoga County has established new
\nhistoric records for hotel occupancy taxes collected
\nacross the county. If Saratoga County is to continue
\nto see increasing hotel occupancy, hotel revenues
\nand occupancy tax collections, we have to expand
\nand improve the marketing of Saratoga County to
\nincrease visitor and tourist demand for the new
\nsupply of rooms.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the Saratoga County Board of
\nSupervisors voted to increase their tourism
\nmarketing budget in 2015. Combined with an
\nincrease in contributions by the private sector to
\nour Chamber’s cooperative advertising campaign,
\nthe Saratoga County Chamber is poised to pull out
\nall of the stops to bring more tourists in to Saratoga
\nCounty in 2015.<\/p>\n

Join the Team. From new buildings constructed
\nby local hospitals across Saratoga County to the
\nopening of new health and wellness businesses in
\ncommercial areas, we believe the health and wellness
\nindustry is again one of the leading creators
\nof jobs, new business startups, and economic opportunity
\nin Saratoga County.<\/p>\n

Within one year, the Saratoga County Chamber
\nof Commerce’s Health and Wellness Council has
\nbecome the largest committee we have. They’ve
\nbecome visible and vocal advocates for efforts to
\nestablish Saratoga County as one of the healthiest
\nplaces to live and they are creating new programs
\nand partnerships to help us achieve this goal. Beyond
\nassisting this sector to create new businesses
\nand new jobs, the growth and recognition of our
\n#healthysaratoga movement will also position
\nSaratoga County as a great place to live particularly
\nfor young professionals and families looking to live
\na healthy lifestyle.<\/p>\n

Creative Ideas. A study of the Capital Region’s
\n“creative economy” in 2014 demonstrated just
\nhow important this sector is to Saratoga County’s
\nfuture. This report confirmed that we in Saratoga
\nCounty have an amazing opportunity here if we can
\nfind ways to help artists and architects, interior
\ndesigners and software developers, musicians and
\nmanufacturers, as well as those engaged in jobs
\nrelated to the performing arts and publishing.<\/p>\n

Our work to help attract The Orchard Project
\nto Saratoga Springs starting in June of 2015 is a
\ndemonstration of our capacity to convene creative
\nideas and positive partnerships to grow our creative
\neconomy. But this is just the start of our work in this
\narea motivated by the advice we are getting both
\nfrom the members of our Saratoga Tech Executives
\ngroup and the many arts organizations we were
\nengaged with during the creative economy study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Todd Shimkus, president, Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce BY TODD SHIMKUS Looking forward to 2015, I see five trends that I expect will help to drive our economy forward. Opening Doors. In 2014, one measurement of our economy’s growth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":16964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[57,113],"class_list":["post-16143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","tag-business-news","tag-saratoga-county"],"yoast_head":"\r\nEconomic Outlook 2015 - Todd Shimkus - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/01\/economic-outlook-2015-todd-shimkus\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Economic Outlook 2015 - Todd Shimkus - Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Todd Shimkus, president, Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce BY TODD SHIMKUS Looking forward to 2015, I see five trends that I expect will help to drive our economy forward. Opening Doors. 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