{"id":18561,"date":"2016-01-08T12:16:45","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T17:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2016\/01\/economic-outlook-2016---todd-shimkus.html"},"modified":"2017-11-08T13:46:36","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T18:46:36","slug":"economic-outlook-2016-todd-shimkus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2016\/01\/economic-outlook-2016-todd-shimkus\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic Outlook 2016 – Todd Shimkus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\"toddshimkus-hsc.jpg\"\n<\/div>\n
Todd Shimkus, president, Saratoga County
\nChamber of Commerce.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

BY TODD SHIMKUS<\/p>\n

Last year in this column, I said there were
\nfour trends that the Saratoga County Chamber
\nof Commerce believed would drive our
\neconomy forward. So how’d we do in our prognostications?<\/p>\n

1. We said small business growth would
\ncontinue to drive our economy. In 2014, we
\nhad hosted 80 ribbon cuttings. We added 60 in
\n2015. The talented volunteers from our SCORE
\nprogram saw record-breaking numbers of local
\nentrepreneurs and business owners seeking out
\ntheir free and confidential advice. These two
\nfacts combine to tell us that there are many
\npeople among us willing to create jobs and
\ninvest in Saratoga County.<\/p>\n

2. We said that the supply of available hotel
\nrooms would continue to increase. We added
\nthat the appropriation of even more money for
\nour tourism promotion effort by the Saratoga
\nCounty Board of Supervisors would help to
\ndrive up demand to fill many of these new
\nrooms.<\/p>\n


\nThrough the first 10 months, demand for
\nrooms in Saratoga County has perhaps never
\nbeen higher. We've now seen 10 consecutive
\nquarters of record-breaking hotel occupancy
\ntaxes collected by Saratoga County, which
\nspeaks to the still growing popularity of visiting
\nthe county.<\/p>\n

3. We said our health and wellness sector
\nwould continue to grow and that establishing
\nSaratoga County as one of the healthiest places
\nto live would be a focal point of the Chamber's
\nefforts in 2015. This was the year we created several
\nnew signature events designed to help our
\nmembers and their employees to improve their
\nhealth and wellness including: a Health & Wellness
\nWeek, a HORSE Basketball Tournament, a
\ncelebration of Employee Wellness in June, and
\na Silent Disco. We now see the #healthysaratoga
\nhashtag on thousands of posts online, on water
\nbottles, restaurant menus, running shirts, basketballs,
\nand banners at area running events.<\/p>\n

Many of the ribbon cuttings we've held over
\nthe past year have been for new health and
\nwellness related businesses and we hope this
\ntrend continues.<\/p>\n

4. We said that we expected to see the growth
\nof our local creative economy and we did. From
\nthe artists attracted to Saratoga by the Orchard
\nProject and the more than 300 people who attended
\nthe first ever #startupsaratoga event in
\nOctober, the emergence of this sector is gaining
\nmore and more attention every day.<\/p>\n

We know the Saratoga Tech Out and Sharatoga
\nTech Talks continue to grow in popularity
\nand that the Chamber's Saratoga Tech
\nExecutives meetings are also seeing increased
\nparticipation.<\/p>\n

As we look to 2016, what is the next new
\nthing likely to drive our economy forward? How
\nabout these three offerings:<\/p>\n

1. We need to attract more talent to Saratoga
\nCounty. We hear from employers in all sectors at
\ncompanies large and small that it is becoming
\nharder and harder to fill job openings. When it
\ncomes to solving this challenge, we believe the
\nSaratoga County Chamber of Commerce's Human
\nResources Council is the logical organization
\nto convene the creative ideas and positive
\npartnerships we will need. Let us know if you'd
\nlike to be a part of this discussion and effort.<\/p>\n

2. We're thankful that both SEDC and the
\nSaratoga County Prosperity Partnership have
\nlaunched successful new efforts to retain existing
\nemployers and to recruit new ones to come
\nto Saratoga County. With more feet on the street
\nselling Saratoga County, we hope to be a part
\nof even more groundbreaking events in 2016.
\nThe changes approved by the Town of Malta
\nrelative to the attraction of new investments
\nto the Luther Forest Tech Park will help too as
\nthis key area seeks to find tenants to join GlobalFoundries
\nin growing our economy.<\/p>\n

3. We hope 2016 is the year when NYRA will
\nbe reprivatized as a nonprofit corporation. We
\nhope this is the year when the Saratoga Springs
\nCity Center will be able to break ground on a
\nnew parking structure. We hope Amtrak will
\nfinally allow cyclists from New York City and
\nMontreal to bring their bikes on the train to
\nvisit Saratoga.<\/p>\n

4. We know this will be a special year as we
\nall celebrate SPAC's 50th anniversary and hosting
\nof the 175th Saratoga County Fair. We hope
\n2016 will see many of the new fans excited by
\nAmerican Pharoah's historic performance come
\nto Saratoga to see the best horse racing in the
\nworld. We hope the new quarter from the U.S.
\nMint showcasing the Battle of Saratoga as the
\nTurning Point of the American Revolution will
\nhelp to promote our historic sites to more and
\nmore people.<\/p>\n

Lastly, we hope that everyone will look at
\nMonday, Feb. 29, like never before. Because if
\nour plans work out, this will be a really special
\nday and one we might be talking about for
\nsome time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Todd Shimkus, president, Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. BY TODD SHIMKUS Last year in this column, I said there were four trends that the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce believed would drive our economy forward. So how'd we do…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":25042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-outlook-2016"],"yoast_head":"\r\nEconomic Outlook 2016 - 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\/2016\/01\/economic-outlook-2016-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 2016 - Todd Shimkus - Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Todd Shimkus, president, Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. 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