The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency provided ten times as much in tax breaks for each net job created in 2021, compared to the state average.
That’s according to data provided by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli in his annual IDA report released in April. The report focused on the 109 different Industrial Development Agencies that operate across New York State, using data from the 2021 fiscal year. There are a total of 56 County IDAs in New York State, along with 53 IDAs being operated within various cities or villages.
The report included data sets in 11 different categories for all IDAs: Project Count, Total Project Values, Total Tax Exemptions, Total PILOTs (Payments In Lieu Of Tax agreements), Total Net Tax Exemptions, Estimated Jobs Created, Estimated Jobs Retained, Full-Time Equivalents Before IDA, Current Full-Time Equivalents, Net Jobs Gained, and IDA Expenses.
Of the 56 County IDAs in the state, 53 of them had data reported for each of the 11 categories found in the Comptroller’s Report. Of those 53 counties, CCIDA ranked in the Top 10 for Total Tax Exemptions (8th overall at $34.9 million), total Net Tax Exemptions (5th overall at $32.9 million), and Total Operating Expenses (3rd overall at $2.82 million).
When it came to Net Jobs Gained, CCIDA ranked 30th with a total of 564.
The data from the report can also be used to determine the rate of return for net jobs created when compared to net tax exemptions provided. For Chautauqua County, CCIDA provided more than $58,000 ($58,333) in net tax exemptions for each net job gained. That placed CCIDA 48th out of the 53 County IDAs in that category.
When comparing CCIDA’s numbers to the four other county IDAs in the Western New York Region, CCIDA had, by far, the lowest rate of return on jobs created for net tax exemptions given. In fact, CCIDA’s rate of return was $50,000 higher than the second highest total found in Cattaraugus County ($7,179 in net tax exemptions for each job created).
And when looking at the data and comparing CCIDA’s numbers to nine other IDAs serving similar populations to Chautauqua County (+/- 34,000 people), CCIDA had the second lowest rate of return on net jobs gained for every dollar of net tax exemption provided. Only the Schenectady County IDA fared worse.
The total number of Net Tax Exemptions provided by all County IDAs across New York State was $529.8 million and the total number of Net Jobs created for all County IDAs was 95,708, making the state average rate of return $5,536 in net tax exemptions for every net job created.
When asked for a response on this information, CCIDA CEO Mark Geise said, “The data regarding CCIDA incentives versus job creation is skewed primarily by the fact that we have provided incentives for a significantly larger number of renewable energy projects compared with the rest of the state, which on one hand increase investment in the community, create construction jobs, and assist the state in achieving its renewable energy goals. On the other hand, these projects don’t create a lot of permanent jobs.
As is the case with any project being contemplated that is requesting incentives, the CCIDA takes its lead from the municipalities. If they want us to provide incentives, we will. If they don’t, we won’t.”
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