Somebody is. Every day, the men and women of your local Industrial Development Agency (IDA) work hard to create local jobs for local workers. We are your front-line economic developers — with our sleeves rolled up, we knock on doors of local businesses, pursue opportunities with companies considering locating in our region, meet with decision-makers, and provide incentives to help businesses expand and locate in our regions, creating jobs and investing in our local communities.

Created under Article 18A of the General Municipal Law of New York State, each IDA in New York State is a public-benefit corporation overseen by a board of directors. There are 116 IDAs in the state and we all share a singular mission: to promote, encourage, attract, and develop job opportunities and economically sound commerce and industry in our hometown regions.

Here’s how IDAs work: IDAs help companies of all sizes locate, grow, expand and prosper in our communities. IDAs do not lend money. Instead, we provide financial incentive packages that include tax exemptions, real property tax abatements and access to lower interest rate loans. 

We also help businesses large and small acquire, construct, reconstruct, improve, maintain, equip and furnish their facilities. From industrial and manufacturing to warehousing, commercial, research and development, food service operations and more, IDAs pull out the stops to make it possible for companies to thrive in our local communities — and for local workers to prosper in our hometowns.

IDAs work in partnership with county Economic Development Offices and Chambers of Commerce — along with residents, state and local government, the local business community and regional partners.

Some IDAs also develop recreation and tourist attractions to improve the quality of life for citizens and increase economic development in the region. The ultimate goal: to create jobs and prosperity by attracting and growing a variety of businesses, employment opportunities and new local property tax revenue.

We are careful to limit our incentive programs to businesses that will be good corporate citizens, involved community partners and fair employers certain to provide quality jobs with valuable benefit packages.

Your local IDA is the only organization at the community level with the experience, expertise, and resources to drive the type of development that creates local jobs for local workers in our communities.

Motivated by your values, your local IDA works to increase investment, expand employment, boost the tax base and maximize the resources in our communities to ensure long-term economic vitality where we live now…and long into the future.

As a result of IDA programs, you and your children — and grandchildren — will benefit from the “multiplier effect” of IDA efforts. That is, each successful project creates the jobs and businesses that attract more jobs and businesses that lead to a vibrant economy, strong schools, quality healthcare and bustling recreation, culture and tourism. In other words: a place we’ll all be proud to call home.

So the next time you hear or think, “someone should be creating local jobs for local workers,” know this: your local IDA will leave no stone unturned in its singular mission to grow our local economies.