Local contractors and suppliers will get a boost from a new policy in the city of Syracuse.
The Syracuse Industrial Development Agency has adopted new rules when it comes to developers who are supported by the agency. They have to buy local, so to speak, says SIDA executive director Ben Walsh.
"We want to make sure that when we're involved in a project, that if the applicant has a choice between a company outside the region and inside the region, that this requirement, when public funds are involved, encourages them or points them to the local choice," said Walsh.
The policy specifically requires that all contractors and suppliers, involved in projects supported by SIDA, come from a six-county region surrounding Syracuse. The counties are Onondaga, Cayuga, Oswego, Madison, Cortland and Oneida.
Walsh says these kinds of policies are common in other economic development agencies across the state, and should mean more local businesses will be involved in SIDA-supported projects.
"Up to this point, what the language has said is to be the extent practicable," he said.
SIDA supports several local projects every year; the current ones include the new Inns at Armory Square Hotel and Inner Harbor development.
