Schenectady County is served by an alphabet soup of economic-development authorities that have been modestly successful, but should be combined and consolidated since so many of their goals and operations overlap, the Authorities Budget Office concluded in a report issued this morning.

The county is served by a grand total of seven public authorities, one of which essentially no longer functions as defined by the law. Meanwhile, the authorities don’t do enough to cooridnate and share resources with one another, the ABO found.

The report also found that with some many authorities in place, money tends to get allocated a bit haphazardly. That includes $600,000 in economic development funds to the County Business Council, but that entity no longer really does what it was originally intended to perform.

From the ABO:

For example, over $600,000 of economic development funds have been provided to the CBC since 2003 for the CBC to meet its operating costs although the CBC no longer fulfills its original purpose. In another instance, over $25,000 is paid annually to municipal and authority staff, in addition to their full time salaries, to provide administrative and operational services to the various economic development authorities. These services are generally provided during the individuals normal work day.

SchenectadyCountyEconomicDevelopmentFinalReport

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