Finance, Insurance, & Real Estate

In Drum Country, businesses don’t come and go, they come and grow. Stream Global Services, Inc., for instance--a customer service support center located in Watertown--recently added 350 new hires, bringing their total employment count to over 700. This growth makes them the third largest employer in Jefferson County. As a whole, New York State is a major player in these industries, ranking in the top five among all US states.

Representative FIRE Employers
Employer	Description	Employees
Stream Global Services	Call center	700
Community Bank N.A.	Provider of banking services	230
Fused Solutions	Call center	70
Northern Merchant Services	Credit card processing	30
Frazer Computing	Computer software	20
Source: Drum Country Business 2010

The Big Picture

Finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) companies will find that the reliability, capacity and costs of Drum Country’s utilities infrastructure, as well as Fort Drum’s steady infusion of talent into the area economy, creates a total package that makes the cost of doing business here as stunning as any view of the nearby Adirondacks. In fact, a recent study shows that the Drum Country Region offers a good alternative to the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area for small- to medium-sized expansions (50-150 employees), as Drum Country offers an ideal labor force including military spouses.

A recent call center prospective study for the Drum Country Region showed that nominal 10-year operating costs for the greater North Central New York area totaled $129,086--compared with much higher operating costs for New York/White Plains/Wayne, NJ ($167,241); Edison NJ Metro Division ($162,222) and Southwestern Connecticut ($166,877). For a full report, contact Michelle Capone at Drum Country Business: 315-785-2593 (mcapone@drumcountrybusiness.com)

Fort Drum, named the fourth best location for military families (Military.com 12/22/09) has seen a population growth of nearly 80 percent over the past seven years to 38,283. But Fort Drum isn’t simply home to a lot of good people; it’s home to a lot of great potential. Since 1988, Fort Drum has contributed $13.7 billion to Drum Country’s economy.

Drum Country’s portfolio includes a lower hourly wage average for FIRE-related occupations compared with nearby New York, New Jersey, Boston and Philadelphia markets.

Mean Hourly Wages For Representative Fire Related Occupations
Occupation	Occupation Code	Drum Country	New York/ New Jersey MSA	Boston MSA	Philadelphia MSA
First-Line Supervisors/Managers of Office and Administrative Support Workers	43-1011	$21.15	$28.05	$27.07	$26.37
Customer Service Representatives	43-4051	$11.79	$17.91	$18.22	$17.82
Receptionists and Information Clerks	43-4171	$11.79	$13.75	$13.97	$13.07
Data Entry Keyers	43-9021	$13.37	$14.65	$14.84	$14.29
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks	43-9041	$13.67	$19.07	$19.80	$18.33
Ofice Clerks, General	43-9061	$11.70	$13.96	$16.03	$14.71
Source: U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2009. Occupational Employerand Wage Estimates for the Capitol Northern New York non-metropolitan area. Includes the three Drum Countrycounties of Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence as well as Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton and Montgomerycounties.

With today’s higher energy costs, Drum Country’s competitive electric, water and natural gas costs and capacity alone make a compelling case for the region. A Drum Country location strategically positions you within a day’s drive of New York, New Jersey, Boston, Toronto and Montreal.

Water and Wastewater: Grow with the Flow

The Development Authority of the North Country (DANC) provides water and wastewater service to Fort Drum and water to Western Jefferson County while providing contract operations and maintenance services to municipalities in Drum Country. In eastern Jefferson County, the principal source of water and wastewater services is the City of Watertown Municipal System. The City’s Water Plant is rated at 15 million gallons per day--the kind of capacity favorable to any company.

In St. Lawrence County, surface water supplies are readily available and ground water supplies also sufficiently accommodate the needs of municipal systems, private systems and industry. There are 22 municipal wastewater treatment facilities in St. Lawrence County.

Lewis County also offers excess waste water capacity in Lowville and an abundant supply of water for expansion in most communities.

Business Incentives: Helping FIRE-Related Industries Profit

Whether you are a start up or expanding business, Drum Country can help you access the following types of incentives:

• Workforce training programs
• Real property tax and investment incentives
• Energy and power discount programs
• Grants and low interest loan programs

Electricity:

Reliable, Safe Power

National Grid delivers electricity to most of Drum Country, and customers can purchase electricity commodity through third party marketers or brokers.

The New York Power Authority, the largest state public power utility in the US, is a not-for-profit, public benefit authority that produces some of North America’s least expensive electricity. It also operates a transmission system to public and private customers.

The Massena Electric Department is a not-for profit electric utility owned by the Town of Massena. Their service reliability is ranked among the highest nationally by leading indicators and electricity rates for businesses and residents are in the lowest 10% nationally.

Telecommunications:

Connectivity with Reliability

The Open Access Telecom Network (OATN), completed in 2003, is a carrier-class telecommunications network serving Drum Country and connecting the region to co-location facilities in Syracuse. The OATN is comprised of about 750 miles of fiber optic cable and 14 central offices which contain the electrical and optical equipment that power the network. System characteristics include:

• Carrier class network reliability
• TDM based DS1, DS3 and OC-X
• 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps and Gigabit Ethernet connection speeds, as well as virtual local area networks
• 24x7 network monitoring and support
• Redundant connectivity
• Point-to-point or ring configurations
• Fast provisioning

The OATN is managed by the Development Authority of the North Country.

Major carriers including Verizon and TimeWarner Cable also have fiber optic networks throughout Drum Country. Several wireless broadband providers offer services to more remote areas of the region; to view a list of all providers click here.