North Country Optimism Tempered by State and National Clouds

The Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce recently conducted its Annual Issue Survey, seeking the opinion of more than 3,200 regional businesspeople on key state, national and regional issues, and also taking their temperature regarding economic expectations for the year ahead.

As always, we had a very strong response rate of almost 20 percent, making the findings very credible. And while there have occasionally been issues in the past with very split opinions, the indicators this year are overwhelmingly clear on almost every question.

What is especially gratifying is this year’s Business Confidence Index of 87 percent, which is a welcome sign of resilience and determination in the face of current national and state economic challenges. The index is the total of those who expect their sales or business activity to be up this year compared to last year (60 percent) and those who expect their business to be steady (27 percent).

In 2008, the Business Confidence Index in our area was 90 percent, with 68 percent expecting business to be up. That reflects a remarkable steadiness in attitude in the North Country through the last year of recession and unwelcome news. I believe it shows a general confidence in our area’s position going forward and the economic development strategies of the Chamber and others in the region.

This hopefulness about our area, however, compares badly with expectations about New York State, with 66 percent believing that the New York State economy will go down this year. And therein resides the source of clouds on the near horizon, if not already well overhead, posing a threat to the sense that we as a region are doing better than most of upstate and are in fact achieving successes mostly in spite of the state’s business and tax environment, not because of it.

Presented with a list of possible responses to New York State’s ballooning budget gap and stagnant economy, the North Country business community called for the following steps:

consolidate state agencies and their back office functions: 94 percent;

cap state spending and state tax increases: 87 percent;

reduce state taxes on business and jobs: 83 percent;

restructure public employee benefits to more closely align with comparable private sector benefits, particularly in high-cost areas such as health insurance and pensions: 81 percent;

reduce costly mandates on schools and local government: 81 percent;

reduce state mandates on employers and economic development projects: 75 percent;

freeze and reduce public employment: 74 percent;

eliminate state pay raises until full recovery: 72 percent; and

enact cost-saving reforms in programs such as Medicaid: 71 percent

There is 96 support support for a Property Tax Cap, and 92 percent support for requiring (not just encouraging) the consolidation of local government and school district functions.

The regional business community’s top three priorities in Albany this year are:

reducing state spending,

reducing state taxes and fees, and

enactment of a property tax cap.

Strong concerns are also expressed about the national scene, with 92 percent saying they are very concerned about the increasing levels of federal spending and debt. Only eight percent believe that higher spending is necessary to stimulate the economy.

When asked what Washington should do to support economic recovery, growth and job creation, they called for the following:

tax relief for business and job creation: 92 percent;

reduce federal spending: 85 percent; and

reduce mandates and regulations on employers: 65 percent.

Ninety-eight percent of our respondents oppose pending “Card Check” legislation which would allow union organizers to unionize job sites without a secret ballot, and 87 percent oppose the health reform legislation as it has been developed by the House and Senate. Far and away, the number one priority in Washington should be the reduction of federal spending and taxes. (87 percent)

Regionally, there is strong support for special action to help the economy within the Adirondack Park (94 percent); strong support for developing a way to clear Amtrak passengers at the border without long stops of the train (94 percent); and strong support for efforts to bring the Youth Olympic Winter Games to Lake Placid (91 percent).

The survey findings are once again very useful and instructive. They will send a clear message to our officials in Albany and Washington as they work on this year’s budgets and on responses to the economy. And they tell us there is underlying confidence that, here in the North Country, we are doing the right things and should continue our current strategies, while also sending a strong warning that state and federal spending is posing a serious and growing threat that must be reversed.

We have circulated the results broadly and are already making good use of them in our continuous advocacy efforts in Washington, Albany and elsewhere. We thank all who participated.

Onward and upward!