DEVELOPMENT: Does Erie County's IDA help or hurt?

By Dan Miner/minerd@gnnewspaper.com

What does your industrial development agency do for you?

It’s a question Amherst board members have been asking themselves lately, especially after a recent meeting of the Erie County IDA Board of Directors, which unanimously approved recommending a merger with the Amherst IDA. Less than a week later, the Erie County Legislature supported the merger in a 9 to 6 vote. The Legislature’s Chairperson, Lynn Marinelli, D-Town of Tonawanda, is also an ECIDA board member.

The move, if it comes to fruition, would have little effect on businesses in Tonawandas, some officials say. But it does bring up again a persistent question, especially in a region which has seen its industrial base erode: Is the county’s IDA effective?

Last year, then-Comptroller Alan Hevesi issued a report which said IDAs across the state were necessary, but also that they often were not as effective as they should be. Hevesi’s office audited six state IDAs, including those for Amherst and Erie County, and found that only one of those, Suffolk County IDA, met or exceeded job creation goals.

Erie County has six smaller IDAs within it, a rarity in New York state, said Kathryn Foster, director of the University at Buffalo Regional Institute. But Foster also pointed out that the IDAs have a policy in which they offer the same incentive packages to businesses. In previous years, IDAs which offered different incentive packages had been accused of merely luring businesses from one end of the county to another.

And while it is unclear what action will be taken in terms of the mergers, officials from the Town and City of Tonawanda say they’re satisfied with their treatment from the ECIDA.

“Our relationship with ECIDA has always been constructive, positive and responsive,” said Supervisor Ron Moline. “So there has never been a serious discussion from town board members in the last 25 years about the possibility of us forming our own IDA.”

Moline, another member of the ECIDA board of directors, said that the ECIDA has, at one time or another, had contracts with many of the companies which make up the town’s industrial base, including General Motors, the NRG Huntley Generating Station, Dunlop, Praxair, FMC and 3M.

“We’re satisfied with the ECIDA’s handling of important business for the Town of Tonawanda, and I’m sure Amherst elected officials would feel the same way,” he said.

Three county supervisors, of Tonawanda, Amherst and Cheektowaga, have a permanent seat on the ECIDA board, according to state law.

Robert Dimmig, executive director of the Town of Tonawanda Development Corporation, also works closely with the ECIDA. A phone message to his office Friday was not returned.

Dennis Penman, president of the ECIDA board of directors, also could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, in the City of Tonawanda, three companies have ECIDA incentives. Those companies are Boulevard Produce, Building Controls and Services and Mueller Services.

The ECIDA has also played an integral role in demolishing the former Spaulding Fibre plant. The agency signed the contract with the demolition contractor, Cambria Contracting Inc., and are managing the project and providing technical expertise, said City Administrator Don Witkowski.

“The bottom line is they’ve been very helpful in terms of the Spaulding Fibre project and a couple areas,” said Mayor Ron Pilozzi. “Their input is important, and they’ve done a good job helping the project along.”

Marinelli lauded the ECIDA board’s mix of public officials and community business interests.

“The highest priority in this area is how we promote economic growth and job growth,” she said.

Marinelli said that a merger with Amherst could be effective for the county.

“When I was first running for office in 1996, and I was doing my door-to-door, a fellow said to me, ‘What’s your thought on merging the IDA’s,’ ” Marinelli said. “I hadn’t thought about it much, but here we are, 10 years later, and it just demonstrates a lot of times the public is the first to know.

“I always remembered that conversation.”