Sam Raudins is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that the creation of new businesses in Greene County is on the rise, growing by nearly 18 percent from 2019 to 2020, according to a study by the Center for Economic Growth. In the eight-county Capital Region last year, 9,465 business formation applications were submitted to the Internal Revenue Service, a 3.2 percent increase over the previous year. Greene and Schenectady counties led the region in growth. The study defines a business as corporations, partnerships, nonprofits and sole proprietorships. Greene County Chamber of Commerce President Jeffrey Friedman said the county has seen a large number of businesses start up in the last few years, spanning many types of industries. “We’ve had lots of new restaurants, some new manufacturing businesses and new art-related and creative economy businesses. It has been a wide array of businesses across numerous industries,” Friedman said. He said the growth could be a factor of a few conditions: people discovering Greene County as they leave more heavily populated areas, the availability of storefronts and commercial real estate and the efforts of the chamber to promote the area. Greene County sales tax collection from January to May 2021 exceeded $15 million, an increase of more than $3 million over the first five months of 2020, according to a report from the Office of the state Comptroller. Greene County’s sales tax rate is 8 percent; half goes to the state and the other half to the county. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.