By Owen Pfeiffer
BUFFALO — When the Erie County Industrial Development Agency board meets at noon Wednesday, there will be no new tax-break deals on the agenda. The October package lists “(None)” under both inducement headings. Instead, the board will vote on a 2027 budget and receive a one-page tally of every project it has approved so far this year.
That tally tells a story of its own.
Through September, the ECIDA approved seven projects, according to the agency’s 2026 Tax Incentives Induced/Closing Schedule in the October board package. Together they represent $143.1 million in planned private investment and $8.25 million in sales tax, mortgage recording tax and property tax breaks.
In 2025, by the agency’s own count, the ECIDA approved incentives for 14 projects that “collectively invested more than $728 million” in Erie County, with $42.2 million in total incentives, according to its 2025 Year in Review.
That puts 2026 investment at roughly a fifth of last year’s pace, with incentives at about the same fraction. The schedule covers approvals through the September meeting. Two meetings remain, Nov. 18 and one in December, so the final numbers could still rise.
The slowdown matters beyond the agency’s offices on Perry Street. ECIDA incentives are among the main local tools for steering private money into factories, warehouses and historic buildings across the county. The agency also pays its own way through fees on the deals it approves, and its finances are now tied to a handful of large transactions.
Seven deals, one giant
One project accounts for half of the year’s investment. At its Sept. 23 meeting, the board unanimously approved incentives for Niagara Power Transformer, which plans a $71.2 million, six-phase expansion of its manufacturing campus at 1746 and 1755 Dale Road in Cheektowaga.
According to the draft September minutes in the October package, the project will add about 55,000 square feet of new manufacturing space and renovate 41,000 square feet of existing property. The schedule lists $2.19 million in ECIDA incentives.
The approval comes with commitments the company must certify to the agency through the term of its payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement. It must invest at least $60.5 million, which is 85 percent of the stated project cost. It must keep its 146 existing full-time-equivalent jobs and reach 208 within two years of completion, which counts 85 percent of the 73 new positions it proposed. It must also follow the agency’s local labor, pay equity and unpaid property tax policies.
The minutes say Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Cheektowaga Supervisor Brian Nowak, both ECIDA board members, spoke in favor. According to the minutes’ summary, Mr. Nowak spoke of the need to see this kind of infrastructure project come to fruition. Mr. Nowak made the motion and Mr. Poloncarz seconded it.
At the company’s groundbreaking last Thursday, NPT President Chris Kraft framed the expansion as a national grid story, Buffalo Toronto Public Media reported.
“The grid in our country is outdated, and the demand for power has never been greater. Electrification is accelerating as the clean energy transition takes hold,” Mr. Kraft said. “Manufacturing is reshoring to American soil, along with new power generation coming online. All of this is putting more strain on the grid than we have ever seen.”
Mr. Nowak called it a vote of confidence in the town.
“We’ve got a business here that has been in the town for over six decades, and what they’re doing is doubling down, saying Cheektowaga is a good place to do business,” Mr. Nowak said, according to BTPM.
The ECIDA is not the only public partner. BTPM reported that the New York Power Authority is providing $4.5 million and that Empire State Development is offering just under $3.5 million in tax credits. NYPA CEO Justin Driscoll said the deal “shows what’s possible when state partners work together to make strategic investments toward a shared vision.”
Counting the ECIDA’s $2.19 million, that is roughly $10 million in combined public support for a project the company says will create 73 jobs. That works out to about $137,000 per promised new position. The figure should be read with care. Much of the support is foregone tax revenue rather than cash, and the incentives are also tied to keeping the 146 existing jobs.
Mr. Driscoll also struck a broader note.
“New York’s energy future is being built by New Yorkers and for New Yorkers, powered by local investment, local talent and a shared commitment to strengthening our communities,” he said.
Old buildings, small apartments
Most of the year’s other approvals are real estate deals, and most involve old buildings.
In February, the board took up a proposal from Swan & Pearl LLC that it had tabled at an earlier meeting. The plan is to convert floors two through 10 of the historic Dun Building at 110 Pearl St. into 36 apartments, with commercial space on the first floor and the existing basement restaurant staying put.
The February minutes say the developer sought about $505,187 in sales tax and mortgage recording tax breaks on a $14.2 million project. Board member Taisha St. Jean Tard asked whether one of the affordable units could be a two-bedroom. According to the minutes, a company representative said the project was very challenging and that such a change would be difficult. The project includes four affordable units, three studios and one one-bedroom, offered at 80 percent of area median income. Mr. Poloncarz moved to approve it, citing the city’s need for more housing and residents. The board approved it unanimously, with Mr. Nowak abstaining.
The same meeting approved 432 Franklin LLC, known as Hamlin House: 13 apartments and 3,068 square feet of commercial space on Franklin Street. It sought $96,250 in sales tax breaks on a $3.4 million project, with two units to be affordable at 80 percent of area median income.
In June, the board approved 1273-1277 Niagara Street LLC, which plans to turn two vacant historic buildings on Buffalo’s West Side into about 2,380 square feet of commercial space and 14 one-bedroom apartments. ECIDA Chair Brenda McDuffie noted that the developer has committed to leasing all of the units at the 80 percent affordability threshold, the June minutes say. The schedule lists $198,468 in incentives on a $4.1 million project.
Also in June, the board backed Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center’s plan to buy and renovate a roughly 50,000-square-foot former school and convent at 157 Cleveland Drive in Cheektowaga to expand its special education services. The incentives total $750,728 on a $9.3 million project.
The largest non-manufacturing deal is outside the city. In February, the board approved $3.81 million in sales, mortgage and property tax breaks for 11580 Walden Ave LLC, which plans a one-story, 57,933-square-foot cannabis cultivation, processing and distribution facility in Alden. The facility will be leased to North Eastern Alliance. The minutes put the project at $33.1 million and record “general discussion” about its power needs. Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan abstained.
Rounding out the list is an amended approval for Hanes Supply in Buffalo, with $699,569 in incentives tied to a $7.8 million project.
The ECIDA’s adaptive reuse policy now requires housing projects to set aside some units as affordable to households earning 80 percent or less of area median income. The agency credits former board vice chair Richard Lipsitz, a longtime labor leader, with steering that change and other policies, including mandatory local construction labor and a recapture rule for companies that miss their commitments.
“Our community needs economic development that betters the lives of Erie County’s working people, and if my time at ECIDA helped to move that goal forward, it was time well used,” Mr. Lipsitz said in a statement published in the agency’s 2025 annual report when he retired.
What the agency earns, and what it is betting on
The ECIDA “does not receive any operational funding from Federal, State, County or local sources,” its budget document says. It runs mostly on administrative fees charged to the companies it helps. That makes the slowdown a budget question as well as an economic one.
The September financial statements in the package show the agency collected $1.44 million in administrative fees through the end of September, compared with $1.91 million at the same point in 2025. It collected nothing in fees in September itself, against a monthly budget of $168,333. Year to date, the ECIDA shows a net loss of $76,088, compared with net income of $402,403 a year earlier.
The agency still expects 2026 to finish strong because of bond deals, not tax breaks. The proposed budget projects $4.38 million in administrative fees this year, more than double the $1.9 million it budgeted. It says the agency “expects to close on two tax-exempt bond issuances in 2026, which will result in fees collected of over $3 million.” The package does not name the borrowers.
For 2027, the agency budgets $2 million in administrative fees. That figure is not built from a pipeline of expected projects. It is the agency’s 10-year average for 2017 through 2026, the budget says.
The document is candid about the risk.
“A significant portion of ECIDA’s administrative fee income is derived from a few large tax incentives and/or tax-exempt bond projects,” the budget says. “Depending on the timing of these projects, the Agency’s fee income can fluctuate significantly from year to year.”
The 2027 plan projects net income of $159,831. Salaries and benefits are budgeted at $2.63 million, up from a projected $2.38 million this year. Professional services more than double to $192,500, up from a projected $91,400 this year. That includes $100,000 for a CEDS economic development strategy study, which is done every five years and was moved from 2026 to 2027. The agency also expects about $1 million of next year’s fees to come from projects approved in earlier years.
The three-year forecast is less comfortable. After depreciation and special projects, it shows net losses of $137,719 in 2028, $125,357 in 2029 and $209,586 in 2030.
The budget keeps $100,000 for downtown initiatives run by the Buffalo Urban Development Corp. and $75,000 for the agency’s membership in Invest Buffalo Niagara. Both are paid from a restricted Urban Development Action Grant fund rather than operating cash.
Reading the slowdown
A slower year does not by itself mean the region is losing ground. The 2024 total was also seven projects, though they carried $314 million in investment and $26 million in incentives, according to that year’s annual report, which cited rising interest rates among the challenges. And the agency counts approvals, not ribbon cuttings. Several projects that closed this year, including a $25 million Wavepoint 3PL project in Buffalo and a $2.6 million Great Lakes Pressed Steel project, were approved earlier.
Still, the gap between 2025 and 2026 is wide. The ECIDA’s own leaders have argued that incentives are what keep Erie County competitive.
“ECIDA incentives keep our region competitive not only in attracting quality employers but also in encouraging local companies to retain and create jobs right here in our community,” ECIDA President and CEO John Cappellino wrote in the 2025 annual report.
If that is true, a year with one large factory deal and a handful of small apartment conversions raises questions the board should answer in public. Are fewer companies applying, or are applications stalling before they reach the board? How much of the drop reflects borrowing costs, tariffs or the state’s own incentive programs? Is the agency’s fee-based model pushing it toward larger deals?
Who is accountable, and what would help
The ECIDA board includes the county executive, the mayor of Buffalo, town supervisors, elected legislators, and labor and business representatives. They approve every deal and will vote on the budget Wednesday.
Some fixes are simple. The October package, including the incentive schedule, was posted as a scanned image with no searchable text. That makes it hard for taxpayers, journalists and school districts that lose property tax revenue to check the numbers. Posting the schedule as a spreadsheet alongside the PDF would cost little.
The agency could also report each project’s promised jobs and investment next to what has actually been delivered, in one public table, at the same time it reports new approvals. It already requires companies to file quarterly employment surveys and annual certifications.
And as the board leans on bond fees to balance 2026, it could name the borrowers and amounts behind the projected $3 million in bond fees before the budget vote, so the public can see what is carrying the agency’s finances.
The Buffalo Chronicle is seeking comment from the ECIDA on the 2026 totals, the bond transactions and the 2027 forecast, and will update this story with any response.
Sources: ECIDA October 28, 2026 board package (agenda, draft Sept. 23 minutes, Sept. 30 financial statements, proposed 2027 budget and 2026 Tax Incentives Induced/Closing Schedule); February and June 2026 board minutes; ECIDA 2024 and 2025 Year in Review reports; reporting by Buffalo Toronto Public Media.
Featured photo: The Dun Building at 110 Pearl St. Photo: w_lemay / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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