CHICOPEE — More than 100 workplaces in the three industrial parks spread over Chicopee and Ludlow annually generate a collective $2.2 billion in benefits across the state or $1.7 billion in Hampden County, according to a university study.
The Westover Metropolitan Economic Development Corp. recently commissioned the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst to study and calculate the economic impact the businesses and other institutions in its three industrial parks and airport have on the community.
The results, released on Tuesday, come as the quasi-public agency has been criticized for a lack of transparency amid a two-year battle over a piece of property that it wants to turn into a fourth industrial park. Neighbors and some city councilors would like to see it remain as forest land.
The corporation, often known as WMDC, was formed in 1974 to help Chicopee, Ludlow and Granby develop hundreds of acres of land the federal government vacated when Westover Air Force Base was downsized to a Reserve base.
Over the years, WMDC purchased more than 1,300 acres of land, which it has turned into Airparks North, East and West, and sold property to businesses that are now located there. WMDC also owns and operates the Westover Metropolitan Airport, which shares a runway with the Reserve base and uses former military hangars that it has renovated.
The study did not include any impact from Westover Air Reserve Base. The federal government annually tallies that impact at the end of its fiscal year. It was estimated at $253 million in the most recent fiscal year.
“The development of properties around the Air Force Reserve Base by WMDC is an economic development engine for the area, providing local jobs and a strong financial impact,” the study said.
The $2.2 billion impact was calculated using a formula that figures the direct effect or number of people employed by the businesses in the parks and the airport and the salaries they earn; the indirect impact or immediate purchases of goods and services used to support the businesses including equipment and consulting services; and the “induced effects” or business output and revenues as well as goods and services purchased by employees’ salaries.
The study also breaks down contributions just generated in Chicopee and in Ludlow, where the Hampden County Correctional Center is located.
Overall the businesses generate a direct impact of $1.1 billion for Hampden County and a $1.2 billion direct impact to the state. The indirect effect for Hampden County is figured at an additional $295 million and the induced effect for the region is an additional $252 million, the Donahue Institute reported.
The study also separates the impact the Chicopee businesses have to Hampden County, at $939 million. Those businesses paid a collective $4.32 million in taxes to the city in fiscal 2021, the report said.
Airpark East workplaces in Ludlow generate a total economic impact of $730 million to Hampden County. Collectively the businesses paid $1.87 million in local taxes to Ludlow in 2021, the report said.
For all three industrial parks, the majority of the businesses, or 57%, are manufacturing, followed by 10% classified as transportation and warehousing, 9% construction, 8% wholesale trade and the rest divided among a variety of categories.
“WMDC industrial parks and the airport combined provide higher-paying jobs without requiring as high a level of education as may be needed elsewhere,” the study said. “Despite having a less educated workforce than the state overall, wages in WMDC developed areas are higher on average than the state overall.”
The study showed 69% of employees who work at the industrial parks earn more than $3,333 a month while 55% of employees statewide are in the category. Of the remaining industrial park employees, 21% earn $1,251 to $3,333 monthly and 20% earn $1,250 or less monthly, the study said.
More than 70% of the employees in the industrial parks live in the Pioneer Valley, with the highest number, 589, living in Springfield followed by 536 living in Chicopee and 299 in Ludlow.
In total, 2,329 employees live in Hampshire County followed by 541 in Hampshire County, 265 in Worcester County, 113 in Middlesex County and 108 in Berkshire County. Another 688 live in a variety of different places, the report said.
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