The Power of Two

The ARCC supports the Post Star's editorial from Sunday, January 27th, in which they call upon local governments to consider the benefits of consolidation - - http://www.poststar.com/opinion/editorials/. The fact is that New York State property taxes are too high and make our region less competitive both in the effort to attract skilled labor and new employers. The most effective way to improve services and to provide them more efficiently is through cooperation and shared services.

To put our money where our mouth is, the ARCC will showcase the benefits of cooperation and consolidation next Sunday, February 2nd. Traditionally, the ARCC has hosted its Annual Dinner to recognize the volunteer leaders who serve on the ARCC's Board of Directors as well as the recipient of the J. Walter Juckett Community Service Award. Separate from this dinner, the Tri-County United Way has hosted their own separate Dinner and Auction. This year for the first-time ever, the United Way and the ARCC have combined their previously separate events into one program entitled "The Power of Two."

The combination of these two events involved risks to both organizations who rely on their separate dinners as significant annual fundraisers. But both organizations took this risk with the hope that we'd be able to attract more people to the event and to have those people bid more than ever on the auction items available. We'll see next week if this risk paid off but right now the event is sold out and the United Way has auction items with a higher retail value than a year ago so we appear to be on the right track.

Where to start with consolidation? Let's try economic development. The City of Glens Falls this week is preparing to interview candidates for a $50,000 per year economic development job. This in spite of the fact that Warren County already provides extensive economic development services through the EDC of Warren County. Rather than creating yet another position in City government with no marketing resources to support them, the City should consolidate services and make better use of the EDC of Warren County. If the City feels it needs additional services from the County in terms of economic development, they should identify what they want and give the EDC the chance to provide them. A company now considering expansion options in the region has already described our region's efforts as "fragmented." The hiring of yet another economic development professional to serve a community with just four square miles in which to work just doesn't make sense no matter how qualified the individual may be.