BENEFITS OF IDAS HARD TO TRACK.(Main)

The Capital District likes to use its more than two dozen industrial development agencies. A lot.

For example, in 1989 IDAs issued more bonds than any region in the state - 10 bonds worth $105.4 million - more than a quarter of the statewide total. That's roughly $2.1 million in state sales tax avoided and $1.58 million that didn't make it to revenue-starved counties.

But tracking just how the area rates annually against other regions in the state is, again, a problem.

For the first time since the first IDAs were created two decades ago, activity reports were required to be filed last year by all 135 agencies for analysis by the state Economic …