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Delivered March 5, 2013 at Carrier Theater in the the John H. Mulroy Civic Center in Syracuse, N.Y.
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2013 State of the County
INTRO
Thank you, Bill, for the introduction.
Welcome, it is my pleasure to be here to deliver the 2013 State of the
County Address. Much has happened in our County in the last year and
there is much to report.
As we begin, I would like to welcome Onondaga County Legislature.
Chairman McMahon, our offices work very well together and it has
been a pleasure working with you. I would also like to acknowledge
each of the County Legislators who are with us tonight so that you may
join me in thanking them for the hard work they do. I would ask that
you please hold your applause until the end.
In addition to Chairman McMahon, we have:
Majority Leader Patrick Kilmartin;
Minority Leader Linda Ervin;
John Dougherty;
Kevin Holmquist;
David Knapp;
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Danny Liedka;
Brian May;
Kathy Rapp;
Chris Ryan;
Derek Shepard;
Judy Tassone;
and
Monica Williams;
Thank you all for being here.
I would also like to welcome for the first time, Legislators Chet
Dudzinski and Bob Andrews. Chet and Bob are the most recent
appointments to the legislature taking over for Bill Meyer and Mark
Stanczyk who have both accepted full time jobs in county government.
Bill and Mark, thank you for your 52 years of service on the legislature
and I look forward to continue working with you.
Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner and her team are here. The Mayor
and I have enjoyed success this year and I look forward to continuing
our partnership. Downtown is booming. Last year we talked about the
number of cranes in the air, and there are even more this year. You
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may have heard it before, but our community genuinely has a
reputation for getting things done and for working well together. As
Senator John DeFrancisco said,
“[Mayor] Miner has been "excellent" on downtown development.
"There’s a ton of construction, a lot of projects started up …
downtown is being reborn -- [our elected officials are] the most
cooperative I’ve seen in 35 years of public service. Everyone talks
to each other. Everyone tries to work things out. When we
disagree, we disagree, but at least you can tell each other how you
feel".
Mayor, I agree with your bandmate the Senator -- it has been a
pleasure to work with you and your team, I look forward to building on
the successes we have had.
I would like to recognize some of the county employees who are new
since my last State of the County address:
Steve Morgan took the job as Chief Fiscal Officer in June of last
year and he has been excellent. In addition to managing his
departments, Steve is charged with helping to set policy. A great
example of the work he does is the recent plan to provide health
benefits to retirees through a Medicare Advantage Plan. This
approach will provide a richer benefit package to retirees at a
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substantially lower price. When fully implemented, the County
will save $4 million annually.
In addition to Steve, we also have new department heads, please
join me in welcoming our
Facilities Commissioner Duane Owens
Veterans Agency Director Corliss Dennis, and;
Probation Commissioner Andrew Sicherman
I am happy to be working with you all.
As I prepare for the State of the County every year it is a good
opportunity to reflect not only on where we plan to go, but where we
are now and how we got here. While the financial results for 2012 are
not quite final, it appears that the County will once again end the year
with a surplus. This is great news and I thank the legislature for
working with me--- together, we’ve been very successful.
And we remain vigilant. A big part of the reason we are in good fiscal
shape is because we adapted quickly to the Recession. As soon as we
saw revenue was falling and the number of people in need of help was
rising, we refocused on our core mission and drew parameters around
food, safety and shelter. We are keeping an eye on the Federal
Sequestration and will again take whatever steps are necessary to keep
us on firm footing.
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We know property taxes across New York State are too high. You’ve
heard a lot about unfunded mandates and the fact that we don’t have
complete control over our costs. That is why we work especially hard
on the local level to keep our own County tax rate low. At $5.28 per
thousand, our County property tax rate is lower than it has ever been.
Strong fiscal years like 2012 help Onondaga County maintain high bond
ratings. According to Moody's Investors Service, only 2 New York
State Counties have achieved a higher rating than Onondaga County.
One of the benefits of a strong bond rating is the county’s ability to
borrow money at very low rates. In 2012, we issued $51.4 million in
General Obligation bonds at a true interest cost of 2.70%, our lowest
rate in recent history. With people in need of work and the county in
need of capital improvements, seized the opportunity we had with the
low cost money available. We’ve seen though – especially at the
federal level that borrowing money without a plan for how you will pay
it back can very quickly cause a crisis.
That is why I am happy to tell you that Onondaga County is once again
leading the way in financial management.
In cooperation with the legislature we’ve set aside $5 million of our
fund balance to account for the spike in debt payments we know will
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come to pay for new capital projects which the county deferred in
recent years.
The County has a healthy fund balance – money which belongs to
taxpayers –but it is a non-recurring source of funding and by applying it
to a non-recurring expense, we will continue to stay healthy.
PAUSE
Sales tax receipts are also up in the county – and that is due in large
part to the increase in visitors. There are many reasons why visitors are
finding our community attractive. Our downtown area is being
revitalized by development, Syracuse University and Chancellor Nancy
Cantor continue to engage the community and anytime you can pack
more than 35,000 into the Carrier Dome and sell out the Syracuse
Crunch game on the same Saturday afternoon, you must be doing
something right.
But we also have for the first time in a long time a new entertainment
destination. As a community, we partnered with the Pyramid
Companies in the 1990’s to build Carousel Center and then again on its
recent expansion, DestiNY USA. The basic assertion to the taxpayers
from the beginning when Mayor Tom Young first proposed the deal
was that the increase in sales tax receipts would more than offset the
waiver of property taxes.
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There has been confusing information about the deal but, I am here to
tell you that project is, in fact, spinning off millions of new sales tax
dollars to our city and to our county. Today, Destiny is open and
thriving – and our whole community is benefiting. It’s not just
taxpayers who benefit, in 2013 more than 5,000 people will be
employed at Destiny and 400 more continue to work in construction
jobs related to the project.
Much of the sales tax growth we are seeing is generated specifically by
Destiny and is from people who are visiting us from outside our area.
This slide shows where US shoppers came from during one recent
week. DestinyUSA is investing hundreds of thousands of dollars to
advertise our region in Canada and across New York State. Recent
projections show that 23 million people will visit DestinyUSA in 2013
and the community is seeing the benefit which was promised long ago.
There are also collateral benefits to having DestinyUSA as an attraction.
Destiny helps us attract conferences and conventions generating both
room taxes and sales taxes. As you may have heard, Onondaga County
was chosen as the site of the 2018 US Bowling Conference. This event
will attract 80,000 visitors. Major thanks are due to County Legislature
Chairman Ryan McMahon for his work securing this exciting
opportunity for our community. Along with the Convention and visitors
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bureau, Ryan has been campaigning heavily for us and even traveled to
Texas personally to make the pitch to them directly. Thank you Ryan
and thank you to the Convention and Visitors Bureau for making this a
reality.
Another conference we are working is the direct result of the very
successful Save the Rain Program. I never imagined 4 years ago when
we came up with the name ‘Save the Rain’ that it would become a
nationally recognized program. We are now working with Judith Enck,
EPA’s Regional Administrator for New York, New Jersey and Puerto
Rico, to host a national Green infrastructure conference here in
Syracuse. As you may remember, Onondaga County was chosen by EPA
as one of 10 green infrastructure partners. We are inviting the other
partners to a convention here to learn from each other and share what
we know with communities following our lead – after all – where better
to have a green infrastructure meeting than at a convention center with
a green roof?
Save the Rain has been wildly successful – and it is thanks in large part
to the hard work of Deputy County Executive Matt Millea, WEP
Commissioner Tom Rhoads, the hard working men and women of our
Department of Water Environment Protection and the many outside
contractors who are working very hard on behalf of Onondaga County.
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In 2012, we advanced many high profile Save the Rain projects:
Work began on the construction of a wetland treatment system along
Harbor Brook on Syracuse’s west side. When complete, the wetland
will passively treat thirteen million gallons of polluted storm water that
now flows untreated to Onondaga Lake. In fact, we are simply
restoring a wetland system that was filled in years ago when we failed
to appreciate that wetlands serve as natural filters for our water
resources. And, unlike sewage treatment plants, that use a lot of
electricity, you don’t have to plug in a wetland.
Work was also completed on Phase 1 of the Connective Corridor
project. I was honored as our community was recognized by the United
States Green Building Council for our community’s close collaboration
on this project. I applaud Chancellor Cantor for her leadership on this
transformative project and thank her for agreeing, very late in the
design process, to allow us to include Save The Rain in the project
design. Today, when you drive down East Genesee Street, in addition
to wonderful green bike lanes, you’ll see rain gardens, new tree
plantings, and parking areas paved with porous asphalt, all helping in
our efforts to clean and protect Onondaga Lake.
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I encourage all of you to visit our new Save the Rain website. Last year,
we launched an updated and improved site that includes all of the
details of every Save the Rain project, including technical drawings and
project specifications. The public owns these projects and we take
great pride in ensuring that this information is accessible and available
to those that want to see how we are investing their tax dollars.
I’m very pleased to announce that we have completed work on the War
Memorial Water Reuse project and that in doing so; we won a
$750,000 grant from New York State’s Environmental Facilities
Corporation to help offset the cost of the project.
We were successful in securing these funds because this unique project
uses state-of-the-art treatment technologies and demonstrates that
storm water can be reused as a resource rather than simply dumped in
a sewer. Instead, we’re capturing and storing rain water off of the War
Memorial’s roof, treating it on site and using it to make ice for the
Syracuse Crunch. This year, we’ll expand the use of the system to help
with irrigation at the Everson Plaza and around the War Memorial.
Our Save the Rain program is not a responsibility that we take lightly. 4
years ago we were given an opportunity to do things differently, and
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we have an obligation to do the job well, share our story and help other
communities share similar success. And there are many communities
seeking to learn from our experience.
To the chagrin of his family, Deputy County Executive Matt Millea has
visited eleven communities in the past two years to tell the story of
how we “Save the Rain” in Onondaga County. I appreciate very much
Matt’s willingness to be our ambassador - it has been a very valuable
investment. I am equally appreciative of Matt’s wife Lori who holds
down the fort (with these three little guys) while Matt is away--telling
our story and earning invaluable good will and grant money to help his
adopted hometown become a better place for all of us to live. Our
success brings visitors, students and admiration to our community. I’ve
said it before and I mean it quite literally, from way over here in
Onondaga County, we are changing the world.
In fact, Matt was invited to speak at the White House at a national
green infrastructure summit. And just a few weeks ago, the White
House listed Syracuse as a model community for advancing Green
Infrastructure among several very large, high profile cities. We should
all be proud of what Save the Rain has accomplished and excited about
what lies ahead.
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And, if you will indulge me for one final point on Save the Rain, I am
extremely proud to announce that Onondaga County has been selected
to receive the 2013 United States Water Prize for Save the Rain from
the U.S. Water Alliance which honors individuals, institutions, and
organizations that have made an outstanding achievement in the
advancement of sustainable solutions to our nation’s water challenges.
As we work to strengthen and expand our “water economy” in Central
New York, we can have no better marketing tool for our community
than to have national organizations like the U.S. Water Alliance
recognize and promote the proud reality that we are in fact national
leaders in protecting our valuable water resources.
A great partner in our effort to clean Onondaga Lake is Honeywell. As
you may know, Honeywell is spending 450 Million dollars to do its part.
There has been much activity on the site and Honeywell recently
opened the Onondaga Lake Cleanup Visitors center where the public
can see its progress firsthand. Thank you to everyone at Honeywell for
all that you are doing.
PAUSE
We have exciting work taking place on the other side of the lake as
well.
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Democracy was born on the shores of Onondaga Lake. Five nations
came together to form the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and they are a
key part of our region’s history. We have formed a public/private
partnership with the Onondaga Historical Association, the Onondaga
Nation, the Friends of Historic Onondaga Lake, LeMoyne College and
Syracuse University to create the Haudenosaunee Heritage Center at
Saint Marie Among the Iroquois. Planning is already underway and will
continue throughout this year to tell the story of the Haudenosaunee
history in relationship to our community, state, nation and the world. It
is an important story to tell and this partnership will ensure it is told
accurately.
#PAUSE
In June of last year, the Syracuse Onondaga County Planning Agency
released an updated development plan for Onondaga County. It’s
available at future.ongov.net and I encourage you to read it.
This plan, a successor to the County’s 2010 Development Plan, was
crafted with the input of planning professionals, community
stakeholders, many public meetings, polls, surveys and extensive
community outreach.
It’s interesting and I think compelling that what came out of this
process is very similar to the 2010 plan.
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Both plans agree that there should be a priority placed on development
in areas served by existing infrastructure. Both plans agree that our
community cores, the City of Syracuse as well as our fifteen Villages,
are vital to the long term health of our community. And, both plans
stress the importance of preserving our rural landscape and the viability
of our $140 million agriculture economy.
I understand that our draft plan has resulted in some debate and even
a little resistance.
Debate is good, let’s continue to discuss the pros and the cons of what
we’ve proposed.
I want to assure everyone in Onondaga County however, that this plan
was developed with the best interests of our taxpayers, the future
residents of Onondaga County and our children in mind.
I recognize that there are strong and vocal national opponents to the
notion of Sustainability and Smart Growth. Please keep in mind that
they may not all be aware of the fact that we are struggling to pay for
the infrastructure that we already have in place. They do not share my
concern about the potential for a $90 million upgrade to the Oak
Orchard waste water treatment facility should development continue
north of Route 31 unchecked by sound planning. And I they do not
appreciate that there is a cost to poor planning and that that cost often
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does not make itself known for a generation or more and is often times
exponentially greater than the initial investment.
As a matter of fact, in an effort to balance the rhetoric from the
outside, let’s look at what an expert on Onondaga County thinks about
the value of good planning and smart growth. Please take a look at
this:
“Onondaga County’s goals include a vibrant, growing economy, a high
quality of life, and fiscal strength. Our strategies in response to change
require cost-effective infrastructure, sustainable development practices
and stewardship of our environment.
Onondaga County’s policies for investment and land use call for
investment in existing communities, preservation of infrastructure and
transportation assets, sustainable urban and suburban settlement
patterns, and protection of rural economy, agricultural land and access
to natural resources.”
I think that it is important to be very direct and very blunt about where
I hope this plan goes from here.
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My administration stands ready to work with the legislature to advance
a final development plan that reflects these priorities and ensures that
we are not burdening future generations with the costs of poor
planning and bad decisions made today.
Development can and should continue in Onondaga County, it’s
important to our economy. The cost of this development should be
borne, however, by those advancing these projects, not the unknowing
taxpayer. And this cost can be reduced when it occurs in areas already
served by existing infrastructure. In this scenario, everyone wins. New
development happens, we are not burdened with the cost of new
infrastructure and our tax base grows rather than feeding upon itself.
With that said, we can call the plan anything you like.
I am open to an honest and forthright debate about our plan and how it
might be improved upon. On this I think we all agree; supporting
development that provides net positive tax revenue is vital to stabilizing
taxes and fostering future economic development.
In an effort to further these priorities, I will once again submit to the
Legislature a proposal to authorize funding for our Sustainability Pays
initiative.
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SMALL PAUSE
I would like to recognize many of our towns and villages for the efforts
they have taken to foster sustainability. The towns of Cicero, Clay,
Dewitt, Lysander, Marcellus, Skaneateles and Van Buren as well as the
Villages of Baldwinsville, East Syracuse, Marcellus and North Syracuse
are to be commended for their commitment to sustainability. Each of
these municipalities voted to opt in to the Real Property Tax Law
section 485-a; which exists solely to promote sustainability in our urban
cores. Congratulations to each of you and thank you to the Onondaga
County Legislature for voting unanimously in favor of 485-a and a more
sustainable future.
And thank you to the Legislature also for supporting our request last
year to provide $1 million for Farmland Protection in 2013. The
county’s new Agriculture Council is hard at work and we are happy with
its direction.
One of the specific tasks I gave the Agriculture Council was to help
ensure that county government is working to promote and
preserve Onondaga County's strong farming community.
According to the United State Department of Agriculture,
Onondaga County has 692 farms, occupying 150,000 acres of
farmland. The market value of agricultural products sold is $140
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million, with the average farm producing almost $200,000 worth
of crop and livestock sales.
I also charged the Council with the task of helping to develop
strategies and programs to promote local food regionally as well
as strengthen and enhance connections between the County’s
urban core to rural, agricultural areas.
This initiative has been a tremendous success. I offer a special thanks to
co-chairs Paul Nojaim, David Knapp, Kay Hilsberg and all the council
members for your hard work.
PAUSE
You may have noticed that for the second straight year our region has
had more success than any other with Governor Cuomo’s Regional
Economic Development Council Competition.
We were recognized for having the best overall plan and for having the
best outcomes for two years in a row. Thank you to Chancellor Cantor
and CenterStateCEO President Rob Simpson for leading this effort.
And the Regional Council isn’t the only good economic news in our
county. Our own department of Economic Development led by Mary
Beth Primo has had a great year as well.
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Our Onondaga County Civic Development Corporation (which we
call OCDC) and our IDA facilitated $194 million in private capital
spending in Onondaga County;
The first business to qualify for our IDA’s new adaptive reuse
PILOT is Bitzer Scroll. We created the new PILOT in 2012 to
encourage the redevelopment of Onondaga County’s existing
industrial infrastructure and ultimately raise the value of
commercial properties across the County.
BITZER Scroll expanded its Onondaga County presence to
accommodate its growing R&D and manufacturing needs. BITZER
relocated to the vacant John Deere building and over the next five
years, will add 56 new well-paying jobs.
In other good Economic Development news, OCDC assisted with
the issuance of $142.7 million dollars in bonding for St Joseph’s
Hospital to significantly expand and modernize its facilities on the
North side of Syracuse.
And, Southern Wine & Spirits of Upstate New York is nearly
doubling its warehouse and distribution facility in the Town of
Salina, cementing its position in Onondaga County.
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OCIDA and Sysco Syracuse closed on a PILOT Agreement for
Sysco’s $20 million expansion and renovation of its distribution
center in the Town of Van Buren and consolidation of its Western
New York operations to its Onondaga County facility.
Tessy Plastics, in the Town of Elbridge, worked with OCIDA on its
100,000 square foot manufacturing expansion to accommodate
its growing plastic injection molding operations, bringing Tessy’s
approximate number of employees to 725.
And last year, the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Lysander began to
operate under the terms of a new 15-year PILOT approved by
OCIDA and the Legislature, the Town of Lysander, and the
Baldwinsville School District. Thanks to the new PILOT, Anheuser-
Busch Inbev agreed to invest more than $7 million in its canning
capacity in its brewery.
Teamsters Local 1149, which represents about 90% of the
brewery's work force said it best when they proudly announced
that "This is the first significant bump we've seen in five years.
Thanks to a tremendous level of cooperation and collaboration
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between State and local government, the Baldwinsville school
district, AB InBev management, and the Teamsters union, we are
seeing more beer production and more jobs here in Onondaga
County. "
The good news on the job front is thanks to a smart team of people in
our Economic Development office who listen to businesses about what
they need and then respond effectively.
Also in the last year, in cooperation with officials in Cayuga, Oswego,
and Madison counties, we set up the Foreign Trade Zone under a
modern, flexible framework and I am pleased to share with you that
just a few weeks ago, the US Department of Commerce approved a
reorganization of the County’s long dormant Foreign Trade Zone.
Foreign Trade Zones can help businesses reduce costs which can lead to
more competitive U.S. operations, thereby helping to maintain U.S.
activity and jobs. By helping local employers remain competitive, zones
can contribute boosting employment opportunities and encourage
increased investment in U.S. facilities.
PAUSE
As you can see, we have had great accomplishments on the Economic
Development front, and to be even more successful, we need to
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continue to lower property taxes and make government more
affordable.
We know we need to continue to modernize our system of government
and that by doing so we can save money but there is still real resistance
to change and—at least sometimes there is still a fear of the
uncertainty.
A vote to consolidate can mean big change and people want to know
what happens when you take the leap of faith and do something like
abolish your local police force. To address that uncertainty, I think
there is value in looking back at the Clay Police Merger: Believe it or
not, this year will be the 5th anniversary of that consolidation.
The public heard much about this proposal at the time, but as is often
the case, we didn’t hear much about what happened once the story
was out of the news. So I have a report today that I think is meaningful
and might be helpful when weighing consolidation decisions in the
future. The Clay Police Merger was a resounding success. In 2008, we
conservatively projected that the savings to clay taxpayers would be
about $1.1 million in the first year. The actual savings were over $1.3
million. At the time, Clay leaders projected the 10 year savings to be
$18 million and recent projections put that number closer to $30
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million over 10 years. These savings are real and Clay taxpayers are the
beneficiaries.
I appreciate that voters in Clay took the bold first step and I hope that
by sharing the 5 year results, we can encourage taxpayers—when given
an opportunity to vote on a consolidation referendum-- to vote in favor
of a more modern and efficient local government. We know from the
Clay story that there are millions of dollars in savings if we can only
muster the courage to change the way we do things. Taxpayers will
feel the results in their wallets and we will lower costs to businesses to
encourage even more job growth.
But Clay residents are not the only ones benefiting from government
modernization; we do have towns and villages across the county I’d like
to commend for their creativity.
Van Buren, Salina and the Village of Baldwinsville are sharing a
comptroller.
The Memphis fire department merged with the Warners Fire
Department
Geddes and Solvay are now sharing a codes officer
The City of Syracuse and 6 other municipalities merged their
purchasing operations with Onondaga County saving hundreds of
thousands of dollars for taxpayers in the County.
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Our purchasing department, led very capably by Sean Carroll is
also providing service to 20 fire departments.
And to make sure Sean is kept very busy, he has also consolidated
auction services for 32 political subdivisions generating nearly one
million dollars in revenue that can be used to offset taxpayer
expenses.
And remember, consolidations don’t always have to be completed
within the County. In January we announced a new partnership –
Oneida County is contracting with our Medical Examiner’s Office
and eliminated its own system of Coroners.
PAUSE
Under the leadership of Ann Rooney, we are taking a look at all of our
human services. We know we can do better for the children and
families of our community.
We want to support youth in their own homes, schools and
communities, and give them the opportunity to succeed and prosper as
adults. Our plan for 2013, which I will present to the legislature during
the budget process, is to start from scratch. Rather than too many
separate departments in the human services arena, we plan to
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coordinate and consolidate our efforts, so that we will ultimately have a
Department of Children and Family Services, a Department of Adult
Services and a traditional Department of Social Services to administer
our public benefits in addition to the departments mandated by the
state. This realignment will be more customer and prevention focused,
but will also have the added benefit of being administered financially
through one system, again, saving taxpayers money.
You have heard me say many times that we cannot expect to get our
social service costs under control unless and until we break the cycle of
poverty plaguing too many families in our community. One effort that
is accomplishing this goal is Say Yes to Education.
I can say with confidence that our collaboration with Say Yes to
Education and the Syracuse City School District is producing results.
Over the last year, the Wallace Foundation made a multi-million dollar
investment in Say Yes; and I attended a funding meeting at the Ford
Foundation where Say Yes was celebrated as the future of urban
education. I attended meetings with the United Negro College Fund in
an effort to convince them to join the other private colleges which
provide free tuition for Say Yes graduates. The U.S. Secretary of
Education, Arne Duncan, had this to say about our community:
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“What you have done with the Say Yes to education plan, I think is
phenomenal … what Syracuse has done is absolutely amazing and
has implications for a national model”
The future is very bright and it is with deep gratitude that I thank the
local foundations and businesses for contributing to the Say Yes
endowment. Just last week, Bob and Sue Congel announced their
generous gift of $100,000 to Say Yes. While they usually make
philanthropic donations anonymously, they agreed to let me highlight
their generous, personal donation in an effort to encourage others to
do the same.
PAUSE
Because the county charter requires that I deliver the “state of the
county” please let me turn to a more technical response for a couple
minutes. I caution you that the following can be a little dry but it offers
a good analysis of where we are:
To confirm our belief that we are headed in the right direction, we now
have an independent outside source. The New York State Comptroller
has adopted an evaluation system for municipalities across the state.
Called the “Fiscal Stress Monitoring System” this program seeks to
identify local governments that are in fiscal stress. There are two major
components of the monitoring system – a financial indicator and an
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environmental indicator and each component is broken into sub-
groups.
The State comptroller has assigned points to each indicator and then
weighted the categories to give an accurate indication about the fiscal
health of a municipality.
We think it’s a valuable exercise to run the county through the analysis
and here’s what we found:
The way the system works, the lower the score, the stronger your fiscal
health. The maximum number of points a county can be given on the
financial side is 29.
The County was given two (2) points in the area of fund balance. To
achieve a perfect score, the state comptroller wants to see a general
fund balance which exceeds 20% of total expenses. For Onondaga
County, that would mean a fund balance in excess of 147 Million
Dollars.
While some have said our fund balance is too high, financial managers
would like to see it even a little bit higher and for that we were
assigned two (2) points. Given the 50% weighted value of that
measure, Onondaga County’s score is 12.5%.
On the other financial indicators, the county scored very well:
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We have not run a deficit in any of the last three (3) years and
earned zero points
Our cash exceeded our liabilities and our cash as a percentage of
our monthly liabilities scored zero points
We issue no short term debt and have not issued any in the
previous 3 years, which is excellent
Our personnel and employee benefit costs are well within the
healthy range and we scored no points there either, and finally;
Our debt service as a percentage of our revenue is very low.
With zeroes in every category except fund balance, the county scored a
total of 12.5%.
A score of 65-100% is “significant financial stress”
55-65% is “moderate financial stress”
45-55% is “susceptible to financial stress”
A score below 45% is indicates that the municipality is “not in
financial stress”
With a total of 12.5%, we are well under the threshold and can safely
say that on the financial side, Onondaga County is fiscally sound.
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The other major category is environmental and there are a possible 27
points which can be scored. Here’s how things look in Onondaga
County:
With our population up in the last census and our median age
growing only slowly, the county scored zero points.
And while our child poverty rate is below the NYS average, the
rate of change earned us one point, with a 10% weight associated
with the point, Onondaga County is at 2.5%
With our property values growing, we score another zero; and our
unemployment rate trending down and our overall unemployment rate
staying below the state average, we earn two (2) more zeroes.
The only other place we get a point added is in our total number of
jobs. The county lost 249 jobs between 2010 and 2011. With our own
staff reductions in county government, we are probably responsible for
that number and will accept the ding.
With another 10% weight for that point our total has grown to 5.83%.
The county’s limited reliance on federal and state aid relative to our
overall budget and our ability to stay well under our constitutional tax
limits earns us zeroes.
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And finally, the fact that our sales tax receipts exceed the consumer
price index earns us our final zero for a total of 5.83%.
Again:
A score over 65% is “significant financial stress”
55 is “moderate financial stress”
45% is “susceptible to financial stress”
And below 45 is indicates that the municipality is “not in financial
stress”
The 5.83 is far below any indication that we suffer from fiscal stress.
And with an abundance of caution, we even called the State
Comptroller and asked him to check our numbers – which he did.
There should be no surprises when the state reports the fiscal health of
local municipalities. There will be few – if any –that are able to claim a
more solid financial footing.
I'd like to conclude on a brief personal note. When I asked voters to
allow me to take on the job of County Executive in 2007 I told them
that I wanted to make Onondaga County a place where all of our
children could thrive. You've given me the last 5 years with an
incredibly talented and generous team of professionals. I've
surrounded myself with the most loyal, hardworking group of people
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anywhere and I ask only that you judge us on our accomplishments. My
husband Marc is here tonight with our oldest son. Jack was 12 when I
started the job and he is now a high school senior making plans for
college. I will be eternally grateful that you gave me the opportunity to
work hard and make this the kind of place he might choose to live on
his own someday. While we certainly have more work to do, I can say
confidently that we are, in fact, headed in the right direction. Like a lot
of parents, I'd walk in front of a bus to do what's best for my kids----and
trust me, on some days it feels quite literally as if I have.--
But when I reflect on the last 5 years, I do see good things. I'm proud to
call CNY my home and I thank you for the opportunity to be your
County Executive.
With that, good night. We will be back at it tomorrow.
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