WSKG on the Industrial Development Agency

 

What role, if any, should the county play in appointments to the Chemung County Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) board and public information regarding business opportunities and contracts in the county through the CCIDA? How will you maintain transparency at the CCIDA? What are projects spearheaded by the CCIDA that should be kept from the public?

A: What I would do is ask that the IDA make a presentation to the legislature on how their efforts have been going to date. We have data from the NY State Comptroller’s office from 2024 on Chemung County’s 49 active projects. These companies are given generous tax-incentives to bring jobs to the community, and the public deserves to scrutinize the success of these deals since they impact our tax burden.

Some challenges and questions we are facing:

• There are 106 other active IDAs in this state and Chemung County is competing with all of them. What advantage sets us apart from the rest? If we don’t have one, how do we create one?

• Are we getting the best bang for our buck by drawing the types of companies that create the jobs we need?

• Are we always sure that an IDA deal was the only way a project would go through? 

• How many businesses leave before the end of their IDA deal?

• How many businesses become full, tax paying partners in the community after the conclusion of their IDA term? How many simply demand an extension or threaten to leave?

Other thoughts, raising questions beyond Chemung County’s control:

• The IDAs are an idea created in the 1960s to give municipalities a tool to draw business and jobs to their communities, but there was not much thought going into what happens next. Perhaps there needs to be a successor program, available to businesses after they have completed their initial IDA agreement. 

• If the hope is that the IDA results in a long-term relationship with a company that stays in the community and eventually pays full taxes, perhaps IDA terms should not have fixed rates for the entire length of the agreement, but to slowly phase in the tax increase over time.