BY PETER AUST
As 2015 begins, the Adirondack Regional
Chamber of Commerce is taking a
moment to reflect on the past year where
we celebrated 100 years of success as
the voice of business in our region. It
was a year of looking back at our history
and planning for the anticipation of a
bright future.
I have the privilege to talk with business
and chamber leaders from around
the region and even the entire country
about the current state of business,
challenges being faced and what they
envision for their business or economic
community in the future. Through
those conversations and discussions,
a common message is currently being
expressed – that this past year was a
year of growth for most businesses and
that consumer and business confidence
is at the highest level in many years.
Last year at this time, many of us felt
great optimism that our local economy
would experience incremental growth
or at a minimum, remained stable. This
was clearly an accurate forecast in that
data such as unemployment and job
growth affirms that there were new jobs
available and that our unemployment
rate, although higher than we would
like, is one of the lowest rates in New
York state and continuing to improve.
New businesses continued to open
throughout the past year creating many
of those new jobs. In addition, our tourism
sector businesses experienced an
above average year and fared better
than most other areas of the state.
However, with all of the positive activity,
continuing challenges still held many
companies to mediocre increases in
business.
However, I think I can safely say that
as we enter 2015, our region is positioned
for continued growth. The latest
statistics for our Warren, Washington
and Northern Saratoga County MSA
bear out the realities of this stronger
economic growth over this past year and
all indications are that we will continue
to move in a positive direction.
Our region continues to be touted in
national publications and websites as
one of the best places to live, purchase
real estate or find employment. Another
leading indicator is in regional real estate
sales data. Although not where we’d
all like it to be, the housing market continues to show consistent increases both
in number of sales and average prices.
With all of this positive outlook, it is
the longstanding belief of our Chamber
of Commerce that the key to ensuring
our regional economy remains growing
is a renewed focus on supporting our
local businesses.
It will require all of us to come
together as a community to support
these businesses that are, and always
have been, the backbone of our local
economy. The small businesses I speak
of are generally those we most often
approach first for donations to help a
local charity and who are also the most
generous.
Because the weather in the first part
of the year is an impediment to many
of these businesses, it is incumbent on
us to not only help them survive, but
to make it our mission to help them
thrive by doing business with them.
This is paramount to our region’s future
economic potential and to ensuring our
area remains a terrific place to live, to
work, to visit; to make a memorable life.
As the Chamber begins its next 100
years of serving this great community,
we are encouraged by what we’re hearing
and seeing. The greater region has
a new and genuine energy surrounding
it unlike decades past. Tapping that energy
to support our existing businesses
will be the key.