Happy New Year! Here we are again, back where it all started in good old Glen Cove. Thank you Glen Cove.
Let me start by thanking my father for installing me today and my mother who along with my Dad have given me everything that makes my public life possible. I have been blessed with wonderful parents, and to have them here to share this day means so much. Mom and Dad, you are an inspiration to us all.
Public life is often full of great sacrifice, but it is also a great honor to have the opportunity to serve in this capacity. Side by side in everything I do is one woman who often shares in the sacrifice of public life, but is rarely given the honor. While it should be everyday - today I honor her, I love her, I thank her for all she does – she is the greatest friend and partner any man could have –please join me as we pay honor to Helene Wrotniak Suozzi.
Special thanks also to our children Caroline and Joseph – and a newcomer to these inaugurations, our newest and youngest child, Michael. I am so proud of each of you.
Rosemary, thank you so much for officiating today, you always do a fantastic job.
To all of our family and cousins who have come here, to all of you, extended family of loyal friends who have supported and continue to support Helene and me in our public life: with enormous gratitude and profound humility, we are proud to share this moment with you. Thanks for coming.
To all our elected officials, with special mention of Howard Weitzman our newly re-elected Comptroller, Maureen O’Connell our newly elected clerk, and Kathleen Rice our newly elected District attorney, to each of you, to all of our elected officials from the federal, state and local governments and especially to my colleagues in the Nassau legislature, thank you for taking the time to be here today.
Today marks the beginning of a New Year and, thanks to you, the beginning of a New Era. It is my hope, it is my pledge, that starting today I will do everything I can to foster a New Era of bi-partisan cooperation here in Nassau County.
Together we will attack the problem of high property taxes – especially school taxes.
Together we will continue to fight waste and fraud – especially Medicaid fraud.
And, together we will continue to fight to firmly install a new vision for the next generation of economic development in our County. Yes, we have turned Nassau around and now we’re on the way to the New Suburbia.
It was 56 years ago today, at around the same time, in a scene similar to this one (maybe with a few less people), that down the street, in the Glen Cove City Courthouse, my father took the same oath of office to begin his almost thirty year career of public service. His rapid ascent as an immigrant child from the lower decks of the Italian steamship “The Counte Verde” to the position of Glen Cove City Court Judge took a mere twenty five years.
My father’s story is a remarkable one, not only because of the pride that it generates for all in our family, but because it is a uniquely American story that inspires others to know that in our country anything is possible. It is worthy of oft-retelling.
My grandmother brought my dad here in 1923 to join my grandfather in their Harlem apartment. Soon thereafter, work and relatives brought them to live in the Orchard on Grove Street here in Glen Cove. Great sacrifice and hard work by not only my dad, but his entire family brought him a college education at Fordham, military service as a multiple medal endowed navigator in WWII, and then a Harvard Law school education on the GI Bill. After becoming the youngest Judge in the history of New York, the work and the sacrifice to come thereafter elevated him to Glen Cove Mayor, then Supreme Court Judge and Associate Justice of the Appellate Division.
It was also 33 years ago, today, that my grandparents had the opportunity to proudly witness another one of their sons take the oath of office. In 1973 my Uncle Jimmy became Glen Cove’s Mayor. It was an oath he would take five more times.
Then it was twelve years ago today, in this same room, that I first took the same oath of office that my father and uncle took. And, several hours ago my cousin Ralph took the same oath to become Glen Cove’s Mayor. Ralph’s victory against the odds, against his own party (and against his own cousin) was inspired and worthy of the story of hard work, independence and sheer determination that has been imbued in each of us that trace our roots back to Ruvo del Monte. Ralph, we are all very proud of you.
Between us, we Suozzis now share over fifty years in elected office trying our best to improve the quality of life of the people we serve and striving to give back to this great country that beckoned so many to come and live out their dreams within the template of the American Dream.
This deeply personal story and rich tradition have guided everything I have done as an elected official and now as we set out again we remember that we stand on the shoulders of giants and aim even higher.
As we aim even higher governmentally, it is important that we remember the depths from which we came.
When I first assumed the office of Nassau County Executive on January 1, 2002, our county was in crisis, deficits were large, morale was low, our bond ratings hovered barely above junk and we had been rated the “worst run county in America.” Many pundits forecast that success would take a decade and some predicted that a State takeover was more likely than a turnaround.
Talk about motivation! From the beginning, you and I were determined to take the terrible review of Nassau County government as a challenge and a golden opportunity for action.
We fired do-nothing employees, eliminated wasteful contracts, cut the workforce to the smallest in 30 years, initiated smart government reforms, dramatically reduced borrowing and got historic concessions from our labor unions. We have balanced each and every County budget. We have established surpluses each year. We have built a “rainy day” fund of more than $100 million, another first for Nassau County. And as we promised, we have held the line on taxes for three consecutive years.
Nassau’s bond rating was barely above junk. Now, for the first time in 12 years, Nassau County’s finances are straight “A’s” and we have received eleven bond ratings increases, more than any other municipality in the nation.
On this New Year’s Day we can look back and say that together, with my hard-working staff, with NIFA and the County Legislature led by presiding Officer Judy Jacobs, we have fulfilled our fiscal promises. It wasn’t easy, but we have accomplished our charge.
We are proud of the congratulatory plaudits we have earned from newspapers and periodicals far and wide. Even in Erie County where they are facing a massive fiscal crisis today, the Buffalo News reported “Nassau emerged from its budget crisis as a role model for how to fix a county.”
But we know that we cannot truly fix our residents problems until we fix Albany.
As County Executive and later as President of the New York State County Executives Association, I launched a bi-partisan “Fix Albany” campaign to cap the growth of unfunded State mandates, like Medicaid, on County government. We succeeded, but that effort offended many politicians who are satisfied with the status quo. That same status quo government in Albany is the reason that local taxes, especially school taxes, here on Long Island and throughout New York State are no longer a mere hardship; they are a destructive burden, devastating families, ravaging our economy, crushing dreams of retirement, destroying our communities, tearing apart the fabric of our society.
Local taxes in NYS are 72% above the national average – the highest in the nation. It is no longer enough that we fight with our local school boards, towns and counties for property tax relief.
No matter how successful we are here in Nassau, introducing innovative measures to streamline government and improve services, school taxes cannot be lowered without relief from Albany, because Albany mandates that our local governments here on Long Island and throughout the State provide costly services, programs and benefits, but the State does not provide commensurate State aid to pay for these costs. Here on Long Island we send $3 billion dollars more to Albany in our income tax dollars than we get back in State aid. For example in NYS 37% of education costs are paid for by the State. That sounds good until you find out that nationally States provide an average of 57% of school funding – to make matters worse we here in Nassau only get 17% of our school funding from the State. The difference is made up by excessively high property taxes.
I do not have the legal responsibility or jurisdiction over school taxes. But I do have the moral and political responsibility to advocate and work for change in the present system. Everywhere I go this is the number one problem our residents face. That’s why I have met and continue to meet with the school board presidents in Nassau County to build a consensus plan.
Working together with our team I will be announcing this Spring a detailed, and realistic school property tax relief plan that will be necessary to save our Island from destruction by high local taxation.
In our New Era of bipartisan cooperation I am reaching out across the aisle to seek support for such a plan. I have met with Senator Dean Skelos and I am excited by the Republican State Senate’s willingness to begin to help tackle this issue.
We as elected officials must remember that no one now in office and no one running for office has been anointed by history. Government officials must respond to the people’s call for change.
Thomas Jefferson once said, “When the government fears the people, there is democracy, when the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”
The times we live in call for nothing less than a revolution in government. We will have to take on the special interests – not in rhetoric and headlines – but in reality.
I ask – “Will you join me?”
We recognize, however, that to get relief from Albany will require money. I believe that to find money without raising taxes will mean cracking down, without fear or favor, on a fast-spreading white collar crime that has been largely ignored by the authorities – costly Medicaid fraud.
Medicaid is an important, necessary program that provides essential help to those in need, but here in NYS the program cost two and one half times the cost of the national average. The NY Times reports that the program has billions of dollars of waste and fraud. I will be laying out over the next month a detailed effort to continue our full scaled effort to combat Medicaid Fraud. The money saved locally will help the County, and the money saved at the State level must be redirected to help relieve the burden of property tax payers.
When I became eligible to vote in 1980 Ronald Regan became the president of the United States. Admittedly, I did not vote for him. For the 25 years since then, we have heard how government is broken, it does not work – we need to cut government. And if you looked at the waste fraud and abuse in Nassau County in 2001 – you would have to say President Regan was right.
But it is not that we don’t need or want government – it is clear, certainly after Hurricane Katerina, that we need government – we want government to address the important needs that cannot be addressed by the marketplace, but we want government to work and work right.
We want government to manifest our collective conscience and compassionately address the needs that cannot be addressed by individuals alone.
We want government to help the elderly, the physically and the mentally ill, we want to help children, and those burdened by poverty and discriminated against because of racism and bias. We want to protect the environment and worker’s safety. We want our families to be safe and our values to be respected. But we do not want the system to be abused. We do not want government to be wasteful.
Here in Nassau we didn’t just talk about these things. We did it.
From balancing the budget, to streamlining systems and implementing performance evaluations and technology changes, from the No Wrong Door Program to Common Sense for the Common Good, we can deliver better services at reduced costs – we can solve problems and help people in a more affordable way by managing better. To address the waste and fraud in the Medicaid program the State must join us in our efforts and do the same.
Finally, on this first day of the New Year and the first day of our New Era of bipartisan cooperation, we turn to the major challenge of the future: transforming Nassau, America’s first mature suburban community, into a model of smart growth and sustainable development.
Over the past several years I introduced the concept of a “New Suburbia,” an idea that preserves the gentle dream of the single family home in a community with good schools, low crime, first-rate parks, and ample employment opportunities.
As part of New Suburbia we will take that suburban dream and meld it together with a new vision for planned growth that creates high-paying jobs, strengthens our tax base, reduces traffic congestion and provides housing for the next generation of young people.
“New Suburbia” targets responsible growth in our traditional downtowns, brownfields and emerging minority neighborhoods.
The “New Suburbia” program requires the transformation of the Nassau Center – the HUB – with new exciting development and public transportation on and around the Coliseum property.
But now after laying out this vision and accomplishing some small successes over the past several years we are ready for bold action. Bold action is not possible however, without bi-partisan support and partnership with our Federal, State and especially our local officials.
We have received tremendous support from our federal officials on both sides of the aisle already. We are hopeful that this year the State will, with the help of our Senate and Assembly delegations deliver Nassau an Empire Development Zone.
Now we will need a concerted bi-partisan effort with Town, Village and City governments that control planning and zoning. In the past I have built alliances with Democratic North Hempstead Supervisor John Kaiman and we are beginning to see the fruits of those efforts in New Cassel. Republican Supervisor John Venditto of Oyster Bay and I are ready to build upon our existing relationship and I met earlier this week with Republican Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray and we are ready to move forward in a bipartisan fashion to address the long term development needs for communities like Elmont, Roosevelt and Baldwin. Together we will work to insure that the Coliseum redevelopment will happen and it will happen responsibly. Additionally, we will build on our relationships with Village Mayors to make the vision of New Suburbia a reality.
To foster this effort the 2006 county budget provides one million dollars in planning funds to partner with Towns and Villages and others to document realistic plans to transform our county in a responsible and planned fashion. Additionally, with hopefully bi-partisan legislative support we will be creating an over $10 million next generation housing fund to build affordable housing in partnership with local governments and the private sector throughout our county.
We have tremendous work ahead of us. These goals will not be achieved unless we work together. With that in mind, today I make special mention of the leader of the Republican Minority Peter Schmidt and pledge to work together with you to achieve our common goals.
Each of these tasks – reducing school taxes, combating Medicaid fraud and developing a new vision of growth that protects our suburban future – each of these tasks is daunting.
I do not yet know all the answers of how to solve each of these problems, but I do know that school taxes are crushing our residents, I do know that Medicaid fraud is diverting precious dollars away from important worthy programs and I know that if we do not develop a long term vision for New Suburbia we will continue to be plagued by erratic unplanned development, increasing taxes and traffic, and young people will flee our island.
I also know that if we commit ourselves to boldly dare to solve these problems - we will.
We will succeed, as we have succeeded thus far by relying on those ideals that brought my grandparents from Italy and through the depression, the same ideals that carried my parents through WWII, and many of you through the great civil rights, women’s and environmental movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s.
We will succeed if we have the idealism to believe there is such a thing as right and wrong, if we have the courage to stand up for what we believe is right and if we have the faith in each other that we are all committed to the same goals of making the world better.
Robert F. Kennedy, discussing his party and his own future, once said that:
I share that faith in human intelligence, human will and human decency.
I believe in each of you – that you are as committed as I, to improving the human condition. We can solve the seemingly unsolvable, change the seemingly unchangeable and we can be those “forces of history” that will make our history one of enlightened progress and accomplishment.
I understand that trusting each other after years of contention will not be easy. Having faith in each others good intentions will require us to overcome the fear of trusting one time adversaries. In an effort to strengthen our resolve I offer the following words of an international hero that died in 2005.
Certainly, these inspirational words of John Paul II were directed to more significant goals than the mundane matters which confront us here in the County, but there is no reason that we cannot recognize that all we do should be grounded in our simple, yet essential efforts to “Love thy neighbor.”
As we face the New Year let us aspire to be better than we have been, and to make our world better together.
To do so we must recognize the problems that confront us, and summon the nerve to take them on.
We may fail, but we will never succeed unless we are willing to chance that failure
I would hope to lead the battle to change the system, to make government work, to Fix Albany, and to build a new vision of suburbia. We start right here - from our home, from Glen Cove, from Mineola, from Long Island.
I ask you again - “Will you join me?”
Regardless of how we move forward from this place I promise to each of you and to the people of Nassau County that I will always fight for you and for them, I will always speak out for what’s right and what is in the best interests of the people I serve.
Let us, from this day forth, seek new horizons that will test our beliefs and our abilities as never before.
Let us look ahead together and plan together for the bright future of our county, our state and our country.
Let us leave from this place confident in ourselves and in each other.
Let us leave together, Democrats and Republicans, bound together with the common goal and common purpose to succeed.
Thank you.
May God Bless you and may God Bless America.
