March 10, 2004

County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi Presents the

2004 State of the County Address

Madame Presiding Officer and ladies and gentlemen of the Nassau County Legislature; our honored guest Frank Zarb; elected officials, friends and fellow residents of the great County of Nassau:

Welcome to the Long Island Cradle of Aviation, where we gather this evening to consider the State of our County. It is customary in annual addresses such as this to set out a record of achievement and believe me, I won't miss this opportunity. Then again, maybe I could rely on the minority leader’s response, when I am sure he will highlight my administration’s accomplishments.

I am pleased to report that while only two short years ago we were one step away from bankruptcy and our county faced an imminent State takeover, today we have undergone a remarkable transformation.

We have balanced every budget we have administered, we have accumulated surpluses each year and we have paid off almost $100 million in debt early, our cash flow borrowing was the lowest in over a decade and, most important, we will not, raise taxes in 2004.

During the course of 2003, Nassau County was the only municipality in the entire United States to have received two bond upgrades from both Moody’s and Standard and Poors, and late last week, for the first time since the county’s fiscal downfall first began in the late 1990’s, Nassau was upgraded by a Wall Street Credit rating agency to the "A" ranks.

The Wall Street monitor noted in its announcement that the upgrade reflected "continued overall improvement in the quality of financial management... the conservative nature of budget forecasts... careful planning of expenditures... and demonstrated progress... in the areas of labor concessions, workforce reduction, assessment reforms and revenue enhancements."

But this is no time to sit back. Even more important than the milestones we have passed is the journey ahead.

The challenges before us, like the fiscal challenges we have addressed over the last two years are daunting, but doable. Doable if we, like the women and men celebrated here in this museum, are bold enough. Bold reform has brought us thus far and it will continue to carry us forward.

There are three reforms on our agenda:

Tonight we embark on a journey of economic growth that expands our tax base and economy, but as important, preserves and enhances our quality of life. Tonight we begin our journey to New Suburbia. That journey will not be smooth. The hurdles to be overcome are embedded in a stubborn political system that tends to discourage boldness and rewards the timidity of the status quo.

In all that we attempt in the early years of this century, we have much to learn from the courageous men and women who in the early years of the last century, here on Long Island, dared to go where none had gone before.

They are honored here, in this unique museum, for their restless spirit, their imagination and daring, their determination and vision, their unshakable belief in a future when we would no longer be bound to the earth, but would possess the skies.

What an inspiration to us all! -- The women and men whose achievements we celebrate here in the Cradle of Aviation Museum -- -- pioneers for America and the world, first in aviation and then in space, pioneers for Nassau County in setting a course for our technology and economy throughout the twentieth century.

These were the visionaries, the precursors of a strong and vibrant Long Island, which would later become home to a generation of veterans, the greatest generation, who started their families here after World War II, who bought their first affordable homes in Nassau, who set up their first swing-sets in the backyard, who planted their first trees.

Those saplings that took over the potato fields of the Hempstead Plains and the glacial moraine of the North Shore are now more than half a century old.

Our county grew from 400,000 people in 1950 to nearly 1.2 million people in 1960. By 1970 our population approached 1.5 million. Now we have stopped growing and today we have fewer people in Nassau County than we did 30 years ago.

Young Nassau County, once the fastest-growing county in the nation, reached an early maturity, premature middle-age, and now is headlong into a midlife crisis.

During the 1990’s, Long Island experienced -- and is still undergoing today -- an unprecedented brain drain, a 20 percent decline in our 18 to 34 year old age group. That is more than the decline in the northern New York suburbs, or the New Jersey suburbs; it is five times the national average.

The rules we set up in the 1940’s and 50’s, like those saplings, are now, over half a century old. To succeed we must change those rules. If we do not, the future guarantees a county deserted by its young people, already unfair high property taxes even higher, government services shrinking, pockets of poverty spreading, and traffic worse than we could have ever imagined. We cannot and we will not let that happen!

If we are to retain the promise of the suburban dream, we have no choice but to put aside narrow self-interest, and to act together in the interest of all the people.

We must not be afraid to innovate, to try what has never been tried before. We must follow the inspirational example of the pioneers in flight who achieved what others said could never be achieved, and, in so doing, brought about a whole new world.

We must first continue to reform our own house. I am grateful that our fiscal reform efforts have been supported from the outset by the Democratic majority of the County Legislature, and by Governor Pataki's and the State Legislature's appointees to oversee our finances -- the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, formerly chaired by Frank Zarb.

Frank and NIFA have been our great partners in this success story. In recognition of all that he has done, a little later this evening, I will have the privilege of presenting to Mr. Zarb our second annual Nassau County Theodore Roosevelt Award for distinguished achievement. Thank you, Frank!

Those of us who have worked together in a cooperative spirit to restore the financial core of our County have come a long way in a very short time.

We have cut the County's work force to the smallest it has been in 30 years by eliminating more than 1100 jobs -- (12) percent of the work force -- saving over $100 million a year.

We have consolidated and professionalized County Government and put into effect smart government initiatives to eliminate nearly another $100 million in waste, fraud and abuse.

We have negotiated and arbitrated fair union contracts that are the most favorable to the county in decades.

And we are borrowing less than one half the money we used to. I came in to office determined to end the patronage-bloated government and tonight I can report to you that our salary cost today is $60 million less than it was in the year 2000.

The county was overspending on politically connected contracts. From the day I took office, until December 31st of 2003 we have cut spending on outside legal contracts by 67%.

The county relied too much on political connections and not enough on performance. We enacted a new system of performance evaluation. And I am pleased to report that earlier this year we awarded our first performance bonuses to employees who scored in the top 10% of our performance evaluations. One of my best experiences as County executive is when an employee stops me in the hall and says "I am working hard to get one of those bonuses next time."

Tonight we have 5 of our top performing employees with us and I ask that they stand and be recognized.

I am also happy to report that my senior staff and department heads include as many non-Democrats as there are Democrats and that goes for the entire county workforce. Because we do not care what your party registration is, we care whether or not you are committed to serving the people of Nassau County.

While the New York State Association of Counties reports that in the State’s 62 Counties, county property taxes have been increased an average of 22% - tonight I pledge to you again, that as a result of our reforms, there will be no increase in County property taxes this year, but, more important, I also make this pledge tonight -- there will also be no tax increase in 2005.

The reform must continue. Several weeks ago there was a tremendous focus on one former member of my management team, who, three months ago, left the administration under fire for alleged misconduct. People have noted that it happens in every administration. It was not supposed to happen in this administration, but it has, and it’s my responsibility. I have put into effect new practices and procedures to protect against it happening again.

These steps have drastically reformed everything from bidding procedures to time sheets. I have strengthened internal audits and background checks. I have appointed a deputy county executive directly responsible for code compliance, to insure that every form is properly filled out, every grant is properly administered, every charter, every by-law, every rule is followed to the letter of the law and to make sure every "i" is dotted and every "t" is crossed.

The hearings that were conducted by the Democrats and Republicans on the legislature were a productive process that helped to shine a light on the problems that existed. I welcome the findings of the ongoing investigations and the recent recommendations by the County Legislature and we will continue to work closely together.

I wish I could promise that there will be no more problems. These issues are tough to deal with and are distracting from other important county work, but there will be more problems uncovered in the future -- that will happen in every large organization. But it is not by the problems or challenges that governments are measured, but by how we deal with them. I have been humbled by this experience and I have learned a great deal from it. I have taken the lessons to heart and I will do everything I can to continue to merit the trust and confidence you have placed in me! My goal is that when I leave this job, whenever that may be, the people will say that this was the most open, and the most honest government this county has ever seen.

We must remember, however, that The Maxwell School of Public Policy rated Nassau the “worst run county in the nation” shortly before I took office. There are still hundreds of problems that exist in our government that will not, despite our best efforts, go away in the near future. The legacy of the dysfunctional, negligent government that we inherited are tangibly symbolized in the buildings throughout the county.

Every county building we now occupy is crumbling and in many cases are a threat to health and safety. It is hard to imagine that the Fire Marshal’s Office, which I oversee, regularly gives violations to the County for dangerous conditions. We are charged with enforcing the law yet our buildings are not all accessible to the handicapped, there is asbestos throughout them, and the Heating and Ventilation systems are dangerous.

We must repair our buildings.

The other day I visited the underground police and fire communications center at Police Headquarters. There in the basement, the doors to the 1960’s vintage electrical panels remain open while an old, dust, and grime covered industrial fan blows cool air on them 24 hours a day. Were the fan not blowing its breezy remedy, the panels would overheat. There are dozens of jerry-rigged systems like this throughout our buildings.

To just fix the life and safety violations, not even replace the threadbare furniture or the stained carpets, to just repair the dangerous conditions would require over $100 million dollars - - $100 million that the County simply does not have.

My administration has developed a comprehensive real estate consolidation program that will, over the next three years, bring our buildings to where they should be - the symbols and offices of a $2.3 billion operation, in one of the greatest county in the nation. The cost of the project will be funded, not by tax dollars, but by the sale of surplus property and efficiencies that will be generated by the consolidations.

There is a serious problem. The problem must be solved. I have proposed a solution. I need this legislature to meet with me and do one of two things:

After decades of neglect, our employees, our constituents and our duty demand that we solve this problem.

Tonight, as I have in the past, I offer a hand of compromise and suggest it is not "my way or the highway". I will consider anyone’s way, if they simply propose one. My plan is currently, the only option because it has been the only one proposed. I am happy to consider any options offered by members of the Majority or the Minority. I am grateful to Presiding Officer Jacobs for the time she has invested in this effort. Now to move forward, we must meet with the Minority and all interested members. Please, tell me your concerns and together we can come up with a program that makes sense for everyone together.

Ms. Jacobs, Mr. Schmidt, Democrats and Republicans, let’s put aside our difference and work together to serve the people. Our greatest successes are those, when working together, we not only save the taxpayers money, but we also provide better services to make people’s lives better. We did it recently when this legislature approved the Health and Human Services Lease to implement the new "No Wrong Door" policy. Let’s keep doing it!

Our second reform agenda requires far-reaching bold reform that can only be implemented by our State Senators and Assembly members who are up for re-election this year.

The local cost of Medicaid is the fastest growing cost in our county budget, and the New York State government is the only branch of government that can reduce its effect on your property taxes.

Consider these facts. New York State’s local taxes, typically property taxes, are 72% above the national average. That is not just Nassau and Suffolk, but throughout New York State. They are, without question, the highest property taxes in the nation.

New York is the only State in the nation that requires local property tax payers to pay such a huge amount of Medicaid costs. Most States split the cost with the federal government and require no local property tax share.

The cost of Medicaid to local property tax payers here in Nassau is $260 million dollars this year alone. The Nassau County General Fund property tax levy, on the other hand, is only $126 million dollars this year. That’s right, Medicaid costs us twice as much as we collect in general fund taxes.

We need reform and we need it now!

That's why, as President-elect of the New York State Association of Counties, I have been working with county executives of both parties and people around the state to shed light on this issue.

A grass roots movement is underway, from Nassau to Niagara. Good government groups, business groups, editorial boards, local officials all across the State, are taking up this fight.

Up until now, voters have not recognized that local property taxes are thrust down from Albany. Tonight I call upon the leader of the Nassau County delegation of the Assembly, Tom DiNapoli and the leader of the Nassau County delegation of the Senate, Dean Skelos, to help the constituents we serve and cap the local Medicaid costs.

Nassau needs other help from Albany, including reform of the State created Nassau University Medical Center. Our State legislators designed it so that the local taxpayers foot the bill if it collapses, but have given no control to the County executive and the County Legislature who are directly responsible to those taxpayers.

The Nassau County hospital system has lost substantial sums of money since it was placed under a State public benefit corporation during the prior administration. Over the past four years the County has had to make $210 million in payments to help cover operational deficits.

Now, the Hospital is again on the brink of financial collapse and we need our State Senators and Assembly members to help us solve the crisis. We cannot allow political or personal differences interfere with what is best for the people we serve.

Our third major request to the state is to designate parts of Nassau County as an Empire Zone to stimulate growth here and to rectify a decades old injustice to our taxpayers. Empire Zones are where state-sponsored property tax subsidies encourage the location of new businesses. There are 72 Empire Zones in New York State in 55 counties. Suffolk has three, NYC has ten, Nassau has none.

We have been shortchanged by Albany for decades. I am calling again upon our Assembly members and State Senators to correct this injustice to Nassau County.

An Empire Zone would be a great incentive for growth, but we need to do so much more. Without growth, there will be insufficient revenues to pay for increasing costs, some of which I have touched upon tonight. Without growth, the only new revenues would come from increased property taxes, which are already too high.

High taxes result in more demands to cut services. The long-term impact is higher taxes and reduced services -- a recipe for disaster.

So how do we encourage growth in the midst of worsening traffic, overdeveloped commercial strips, pockets of poverty, lack of affordable housing and no open space that we would even consider paving over?

The answer is our third reform agenda that requires us to change the economic growth rules that were set up in the 1940’s and 50’s, but no longer work. We must prepare the way for the next historic era of American suburban living "New Suburbia".

New Suburbia - an idea that marries the dream of the white picket fence, existing single family homes and a baseball field down the street, low crime and low unemployment and local control, with a new vision for growth in selected areas that improves our quality of life, pays for government services, strengthens our communities and will ultimately address traffic congestion.

Our 10-point plan focuses on 2 industries, in 4 locations, and 4 infrastructure reforms. The essence of the plan is to encourage targeted industries that improve our quality of life, in targeted locations where growth would be welcomed. To enhance our effort Nassau will also need a better transportation system, affordable housing for our workers and seniors, the preservation of remaining open space and improvements to our troubled schools, like Roosevelt and others. This is obviously not a short-term plan.

But we can't afford to think in a time frame of a next election. Change takes time. Not the laid-back, passive passage of time but bold, continuous action over an extended period of time.

Let us begin tonight. Let us set out on a journey to make ourselves a model for other maturing suburban communities to follow. Let us go where no one has gone before.

We need to focus our energy on two major industry areas _ High Skilled, High-Tech Industry and Sports, Entertainment and Tourism. High-Skilled and High-Tech industries that will mean better access to new higher paying jobs in new buildings that will expand our property tax base.

Local Town and Village governments will have an opportunity to work with us as part of the new Nassau County Planning Federation to develop new model planning and Zoning codes that will encourage this type of development as well as affordable workforce and senior housing in targeted locations throughout the county.

Sports Entertainment and Tourism is the other major industry we must direct our attention to. These types of businesses will increase our sales tax revenues and will improve our quality of life. They will expand our cultural and recreational opportunities while protecting our environment, enhance our downtowns and simply make our lives more interesting and exciting.

Jones Beach, Sagamore Hill, Belmont Race Track, Bethpage State Golf Course, home of the US Open, Eisenhower Park which is larger than New York City’s Central Park and our Museums here at Museum Row are all examples of the 100’s of tourism opportunities we have available to us that we have simply taken for granted because we are next to NYC. Working with the Long Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, our Parks Department and the newly created Sports, Entertainment and Tourism not-for-profit we must market these opportunities to people throughout the region.

But where, in this seemingly already overdeveloped County are we going to encourage these industries to grow. I have been traveling throughout the County over the past 2 years holding Economic Development meetings in 20 of the 35 Economic Development Zones we have divided the County into. The meetings will continue over the next year. We are attempting to identify specific locations that fit into one of four categories in each community. Traditional Downtowns; Brownfields; Emerging Minority Neighborhoods; and The HUB are all appropriate places for new development.

I say clearly to our town, village and city officials, "if you want development in your community, we will help you, if you do not, we will leave you alone."

Traditional Downtowns like Freeport, Oyster Bay, Westbury, Mineola, Hempstead, Plainview, Syosset, Baldwin, Glen Cove and Elmont would all welcome assistance in their Downtown revitalization efforts. We need to continue to work together to develop a vision for them and to again work with The Nassau County Planning Federation to develop incentives that will encourage investment in them.

Don’t we need our downtowns to once again be vibrant community centers that represent our civic pride and can compete with the malls and strip malls?

Picture former industrial sites that are either polluted, or perceived to be so, that are recycled and reused and made into economic centers for the future. The former 105 acre Grumman site in Bethpage, The Liberty Site in Farmingdale, The former Sperry property in Lake Success, The waterfront in Glen Cove and dozens of other smaller sites all have the potential to be economic engines for our future. Our Economic Development departments are working as part of our Environmental Improvement Plan to help make these sites more attractive to developers by helping to navigate the bureaucratic maze associated with polluted sites and helping to access clean-up dollars, insurance and low cost loans.

Because, face it, isn’t it better to clean-up, recycle and reuse a polluted site instead of using up one of our last precious pieces of open space?

Emerging minority communities like Roosevelt, New Cassel, and Hempstead could all be models of communities that have high existing purchasing power, but have been underinvested in the past.These communities would welcome new development and could one day be economic boomtowns if only the development community could see past historic prejudices to the fantastic economic opportunities that exist there.

Let’s work together to make that investment a reality.

Most important is the Nassau County HUB, where we now sit. From Mineola to Roosevelt Field and Eisenhower Park, down to the Nassau Coliseum, EAB Plaza, Nassau Community College and here at Museum Row, over to Hofstra University, Mitchel Field Industrial Park in Uniondale and Downtown Hempstead, back up through Garden City, returning to Mineola “The Nassau HUB”, currently the most important economic catalyst in Nassau County, home to the most jobs and the most square feet of commercial property and the most tax revenues. It is the key to the future of Nassau.

It could be and it should be the downtown of Long Island! The HUB with 4 connecting spokes - one connecting Suffolk, one to New York City, one to the North Shore and one to the South Shore.

If we were to build it up with more EAB office buildings, more cultural, entertainment and sports activities, and more affordable workforce housing, it would guarantee a bright economic future for the county but the traffic would kill us.

The traffic is already a nightmare.

When I was a young Chaminade high school student, every morning in the late 1970’s the drive time from our house in Glen Cove was 20 minutes. Now the drive time from Glen Cove to my office in Mineola, a few blocks from Chaminade, takes 40 to 45 minutes.

The vision of New Suburbia, encouraging new industries in the downtowns, brownfields, minority neighborhoods and the HUB must also include a long term plan for a new commuter system that takes workers and visitors not only to NYC, but to Long Island’s downtown-to the HUB.

If we do not start planning and implementing such a system now the growth we need will not happen. The current traffic simply will not allow it. If there is no growth, the future guarantees higher taxes, as a result lower services and the bad traffic now, will only get worse.

We must change. If we are to protect our suburban Dream, we must develop a transportation system to the HUB. Our thanks to Congresswoman McCarthy, Congressman King, and the entire Long Island congressional delegation and our United States Senators Clinton and Schumer for a $1.2 million grant to keep the process of developing our vision for the future of the HUB moving forward.

For the past year we have been meeting with the stakeholders, the community groups and the people who live and work in the area to make sure that our plan makes sense to those most interested in the future of this important part of our county.

Transportation improvements, open space preservation, improvement of our under performing schools, and the construction of affordable housing for our seniors and young workers are all important parts of our future of New Suburbia.

The most urgent of these problems is the need for affordable housing. In the heyday of suburban growth it was affordable housing that welcomed the veterans of WWII. Now we must lay out the same welcome mat to the next generation of Dream builders here in Nassau.

According to the President of the Long Island Association, our largest Business Association, the biggest threat to our economy is affordable housing,because without it, Nassau will not attract new jobs.

Nassau County’s Planning Federation will help develop model zoning codes to encourage affordable workforce housing in targeted sites throughout our county.

Please join me in support of the Balboni-DiNapoli housing bill, which would require that all future housing projects include 10 percent set aside for affordable housing for working families. The bill has passed the State Assembly. It is a good first step and deserves swift passage by the State Senate.

We have so much to do.

• We must make our government look like the people of Nassau County.
• We must reduce health care disparities that exist for minorities.
• Our information technology systems must be upgraded.
• Our crime reduction and public safety program must be enacted.
• We must improve our youth programs and recreational facilities.

We have much to do, but I am ready to do the work if you will join me.

The other day I was walking through the Welwyn Nature Preserve in Glen Cove and I saw a beautiful Red-Tailed Hawk. Over the past several years I have seen several Osprey nest there. They swoop down into the Long Island Sound and in the marsh areas to catch their meals.

When I was a boy growing up in Glen Cove in the late 60s and 70s, I was lucky, I had an idyllic childhood, a warm, loving family, and good friends. We fished off the piers and built forts and played Ring-O-Levio in the woods.

I never recall, seeing either of those two magnificent birds. So I asked a naturalist whether the birds had been there when I was a young boy or maybe it was something I just didn’t notice at that young age.

It turns out that 30 years ago those birds could not be found in this area because they had been killed off by DDT. It was not until Rachel Carson’s famous book Silent Spring exposed the dangers of DDT to both birds and humans, public officials decided to ban DDT. That work three decades ago resulted in the resurgence of those magnificent birds today.

Yes, we can change the world -- not always right away, but sometimes years down the road if you plan for it and start pushing far in advance.

Change is not easy. It may take a decade to convince people to change here, but if we do not, there is danger ahead.

Ours is a county of incredible wealth, of strong business, of well-educated residents, great talent and ideas. We have schools unequaled anywhere in the nation. We are, in short, a great place to live and to raise families.

What we have lacked is a vision of the future.

Tonight, I ask that we look ahead together to a renewed Nassau for our children and grandchildren.

Despite all the obstacles, we can reach our goals if we refuse to give in to the fear of change, if we insist on honest, caring government, if we hold fast to the dream.

We will reach our goals if we are diligent and confident and hopeful, if we sustain the optimism and wise action our mission demands, if we have the courage to do what is right, if we learn from the pioneers here in the Cradle of Aviation that boundless domains are ours to conquer. All that the human mind can conceive, the strength of our will and determination can achieve.

Let us, like those great pioneers, embark upon our journey. Let us seek new horizons that will test our beliefs and our abilities as never before.

Let us look ahead and plan for our bright future, together here with our families, our friends and neighbors, here in our hometown of Nassau County, here in a New Suburbia.

Thank you very much.