“Recovering, full speed ahead,” is the way Westchester County Director of Economic Development Bridget Gibbons described the current shape of the county”™s economy when asked for her take on it by the Business Journal.
Her description is bolstered at least in part by a new economic analysis released by Moody”™s Investors Service and CNN that shows the overall U.S. economy back to 89% of where it was before Covid hit. Closer to home, the Moody”™s/CNN study gives New York state a 78% recovery rating, New Jersey 85% and puts Connecticut”™s recovery at a solid 95%.
“The most recent Department of Labor report, which had data through August, shows that our metro area, Westchester, Rockland and Orange has the third-highest growth rate in the state at 6.1% when you compare August 2020 and August 2021. In terms of the state, our metro region is doing incredibly well,” Gibbons said.
“Our hospitality sector had a 28.3% growth rate. That”™s the sector we were all concerned about because it took such a tremendous blow. It is coming back; people are traveling to Westchester.”
She said that it appears the major effect on the construction industry in Westchester has been in supply chain backlogs and rising costs of materials as exemplified by a surge in lumber prices.
“We”™re seeing prices start to come back down. It hadn”™t stopped construction but it has increased the costs, which makes people a little nervous,” Gibbons said. “They kind of have to take a step back and figure out if they need to increase their funding or need increased benefits from the IDA.”
Gibbons said that she generally has found that businesses are very optimistic about the future. She said that in her position as executive director of Westchester”™s Industrial Development Agency she has not seen a slowdown in developers approaching the IDA for possible financial assistance in projects they”™re preparing.
“I do believe the economy is on the right track and it is coming back in a strong way,” Gibbons said. “Back in 2020 we did a $14 million grants program for our small businesses and we recently conducted an economic impact study of that program. The study reported back that we saw $7 million in earnings preserved and $11 million in in-county spending for a total economic impact of $18 million. That Westchester County Business First Grant Program that we did last year helped prime the pump for the economic growth that we”™re seeing in 2021.”
Gibbons said the county has additional plans to aid small businesses and nonprofits and noted that the primary challenge right now for businesses is in hiring people.
“The constraint for our mom-and-pop Main Street businesses is getting people back to work,” Gibbons said. “To address that, we are in the process of conducting several job fairs. A couple of weeks ago we conducted a job fair for the construction industry and saw about 200 job seekers. We know for a fact that one company hired 25 people just as a result of that one event. There”™s a huge gap of what the businesses need from an employee perspective and what they”™re getting.”
She said that there would be a job fair for the hospitality sector taking place on Oct. 14 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown to bring together restaurant and hotel owners and others in hospitality and tourism with job seekers.
“We feel that stepping in and orchestrating those job fairs is going to be a way for our economy, our mom and pops, our small businesses on Main Street, to get the employees that they need to really get fully back on track,” Gibbons said.
Gibbons said that a key finding in a bounce-back survey the county recently conducted was that businesses still need access to capital. As a result, the county is conducting a series of workshops in connection with Clarence Stanley, regional director of the Small Business Development Center located on the campus of Lehman College in the Bronx. The “Capital Connections” series is designed to help businesses obtain access to capital and determine the best ways to go about it.
“We”™re not going to be fully back to where we want to be until we can be sure this pandemic is completely behind us,” County Executive George Latimer told the Business Journal.
“What we”™re seeing is business is bouncing back, perhaps faster in Westchester than in some of the neighboring counties, and I think there”™s a greater sense of optimism in general.”
Latimer pointed out that the summer”™s rise in Covid cases did flatten out in recent weeks but there are concerns about what economic effect the cold winter weather will have as some businesses that have relied on being able to operate outdoors will need to move activities inside.
“Right now, the economy is responding much better than many people give us credit for and I think we”™re making a comeback,” Latimer said, also expressing optimism regarding the county”™s budget.
“I think we see a third straight year where we”™re going to cut the county property tax levy and we might be able to do it by more than we did the last two years, which was $1 million each year,” Latimer said. “We”™ve made decisions that have helped the county even though we”™ve had Covid being this terrible drag on it.”
He described several initiatives that have saved the county tens of millions, including a net reduction in the workforce, renegotiation of the Liberty Lines bus contract for the county Bee-Line service and negotiating a payment from Airbnb to compensate for hotel occupancy taxes.
“The narrative in Westchester County right now is that things are on the upswing,” Latimer said.
