2007 State of the County Address County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi

Madame Presiding Officer, ladies and gentlemen of the Nassau County Legislature, my friends and fellow residents of the great County of Nassau.

Thank you for being here tonight. My special thanks to all of our legislators and elected officials. I know that each of you feel as I do. While it is sometimes frustrating, public service is a great calling, a noble endeavor and we share the great privilege of holding the public trust. Thank you for your commitment to work together on the serious challenges facing our future.

If we are to address our most serious problem of high property taxes we must consolidate local governments and expand our tax base. Simultaneously, we must work to ensure that we enhance our health and suburban quality of life. Before discussing those initiatives it is important to understand the foundation on which we build.

Five years ago, in this same spot, at the same time, with many of the same legislators seated here behind me I delivered my first State of the County address.

It is hard to imagine how very different things were that night.

That evening in 2002 there was a drama, an excitement, an intoxicating mix of despair about our condition, fear of the unknown and a measure of hope for the future. I had just been sworn in a few months before as Nassau’s first Democratic County Executive with a Democratic Legislature since 1917 and our County had just been rated the “worst run county in America.”

The county was on the brink of bankruptcy, the bond ratings were in the basement, the fiscal monitors were demanding action, the PBA was gearing up for a multi-million dollar battle, the guardians of the status quo were waiting to pounce if we made the slightest mistake, the buildings were crumbling, the technology was in the stone age, and the parks were a disgrace.

Problems like tax certiorari claims and the Nassau University Medical Center seemed insurmountable and threatened to push us over the edge, State mandates like Medicaid grew annually by 12% and no one seemed to care, our State legislators didn’t seemed interested in new ideas like a Sewer and Storm Water Authority or an Empire Zone for Nassau County, we were out of money, cash flow was poor, our deficits were predicted to be over $400 million and our debt was higher than any other county in the State of New York.

Looking back it’s no wonder people were skeptical. But we did it. We turned the County around. We took bold steps. We fought big battles. We took big risks. We succeeded because we risked failure.

We cut the workforce and we cut the borrowing, we reformed the government, we secured historic concessions from labor, and we prompted action from the State.

Today the budget is balanced, our debt service is lower and our bond ratings are higher than in 15 years. As promised five years ago we did not raise County property taxes in 2004, 2005, and 2006. We went even further than promised and did not raise taxes for this year - 2007 - and Nassau County is now the only county in New York State that has not raised taxes for four years in a row.

Our buildings are better, our technology is cutting edge, the parks are making a comeback, the tax certiorari and hospital problems are under control, Medicaid has been capped, we do a better job helping those most in need, our crime rate is the lowest in 30 years and our government is now a model for others to emulate.

We accomplished a great deal over the past five years. But there’s a great deal more to do. In a few moments I will discuss the important work ahead of us.

We will make sure the County Government continues to be run smoothly and at as low a cost as possible - the doom and gloomers and political naysayers can complain all they want, but you simply cannot quarrel with our results.

In 2002, when I first assumed office, County property taxes were an average of 22.7% of the average property tax bill. School taxes and town, village and special district taxes have continued to rise, while the county taxes have not been raised for four consecutive years, and as a result the county portion has decreased from 22.7% to 17.7% of your total property tax bill.

We have consistently stayed below the level of inflation. We have held our annual expense growth to 3.2 % a year, while the Consumer Price inflation Index has risen by 4.1% a year, while New York City’s spending, for example, has gone up some 7% a year.

We have kept the rate of expense growth as low as 3.2% despite the growth of pensions and health insurance by 59%, a growth in utility costs of 52% and the growth of State mandates like early intervention of 26%.

We have done the job we were elected to do.

But just because we have managed the County well and county property taxes have remained stable, doesn’t mean people are satisfied.

I love it here. My wife Helene and I have chosen to stay here, where we were raised, where our parents live and where we will raise our three children.

Much like the 82% of Long Islanders who said in the Rauch Foundation’s Long Island Index survey, we love Long Island’s beaches and schools. The low crime rate makes us feel safe, we like our neighborhoods with a park down the street, we also admire our low unemployment, with great healthcare and services and our close proximity to the city.

But we are all concerned about affordability and about preserving and in some cases improving the quality of life we now enjoy.

Now is the time to focus on the long term challenges we face that are not simply county government problems, but affect all county residents.

Again while the county has not raised taxes for 4 years in a row, we all know our property taxes, especially school taxes are much too high, young people and seniors have a hard time finding an affordable place to live and to our great shame we have pockets of poverty in racially segregated communities.

High costs and quality of life cannot be addressed in a short term plan, for just the next year, or by the next election. We need a long term plan. We need hope. We need to believe that our elected officials “get it” and will try to address the things we care about.

I began my career in elected office 13 years ago when I first became Mayor of the City of Glen Cove in 1994. I would have never thought that 13 years would go by so quickly or that so much could happen in that time.

That is why I think it would be helpful for us to now look 13 years ahead. What can we do to address the problems of affordability and improve the quality of life for our residents between now and then? What is our vision for that year 13 years from now? What is our 2020 Vision?

If we take no action, taxes will continue to rise. Young people will continue to leave and neighborhoods with poor schools and pockets of poverty will continue to falter.

Tonight I am proposing that we establish a “2020 Vision” for Nassau County.

The 2020 Vision will focus primarily on the issues of property taxes and the quality of life.

To address property taxes the County will embark on an aggressive new effort to consolidate our over 400 separate governments to reduce costs and improve service. We will step up our efforts to promote targeted and planned growth to expand our tax base and thereby lessen the burden on County residential taxpayers. Our goal is that by 2020 property taxes will no longer be the number one issue that chases our residents away from Nassau County.

To improve the quality of life in the County we will kick off “Healthy Nassau”. We will take specific targeted actions to improve our Air, Land and Water and our Bodies, Minds and Spirits. Healthy Nassau’s goal will be to make Nassau County the healthiest county in the country by the year 2020.

First property taxes.

I have devoted tremendous effort to address this major problem. We turned the County around and have held the county portion of the property bill flat for four years.

My “Fix Albany” campaign achieved a cap on the growth of local Medicaid costs and brought attention to the State’s under-funding of our local schools.

And if you try hard you might remember, I even tried to carry my “Fix Albany” banner to the Governor’s office. That didn’t go quite as planned.

Fortunately, Eliot and I have become partners. I worked to inject “Fix Albany” into the campaign agenda and he ran with the ball for a touchdown.

I entered last year’s campaign with little money and no illusions. As I told you last year at the State of the County: “Even if I am unsuccessful in this race, then I will have still placed (the property tax) issue at the top of the list, so that the next Governor and State Legislature will be forced to deal with it.”

We succeeded in bringing statewide attention to our property tax problem. We are now counting on the Governor and the State Legislature to give us property tax relief in the upcoming budget. I wholeheartedly support the Governor’s effort to combat waste in the Medicaid system and deliver those funds for property tax relief here in Nassau.

With the issue of government management always on our agenda, with issues of mandate relief and additional State Aid in the capable hands of our State officials, we must turn our attention towards the two other ways to address rising property taxes: government consolidation and growth of the tax base.

Multiple layers of government simply cost too much.

Governor Spitzer noted in his State of the State address, “We must consolidate New York’s multiple layers of local government that cost taxpayers millions each year in duplicative services. Together we must summon the political will to face the reality that 4,200 taxing jurisdictions are simply too many.”

Tonight I pledge to the Governor and to each of you that here in Nassau County we have the political will, and I will make government consolidation a top priority for the remainder of my term.

There are so many convoluted, conflicting, confusing, taxing districts that it’s hard to know exactly how many there actually are.

What we do know is that there are far too many!

We have 70 sewer and sewage related districts. There are 26 commission run water districts, 9 Town water districts, 7 village water districts, 2 city water districts, 3 water pollution control districts, a water supply district and 31 communities served by private water companies. We have 56 school districts some of which run our 54 libraries, other libraries are run by villages and still 9 others are run by Library funding districts.

In addition to the over 41 Fire Districts with elected Commissioners and the 31 Fire Protection Districts typically run by the town, we have another 24 village run fire departments, 2 city run fire departments and a Fire Hydrant Rental District and of course the County Fire Commission and Fire Marshall.

We have 74 garbage collection entities, 27 park operators and 54 other districts including 1 sidewalk improvement district and the now famous Memorial Day parade district.

We all agree, it’s a mess. Now let’s clean it up.

Many special districts are archaic holdovers from a bygone era when population was sparse and budgets were small.

They have served as wasteful pockets of patronage which add up to high-tax inefficiency.

Even those districts that hold elections are virtually unaccountable because very few taxpayers know when or where to vote. I am quite certain that fewer people vote in special district elections than will vote tonight on American Idol.

Nassau County’s special districts are no longer special. Some of these districts have already been exposed as corrupt; many seem mismanaged and most are fundamentally unaccountable to their local property taxpayers.

There have been a number of studies, conferences, and commissions; dozens of meetings about consolidation.

We don’t need another meeting or another study. We need a blueprint of how we can accomplish our goal of consolidating government and saving millions of taxpayer dollars during the coming years. We need to say clearly if we consolidate these governments, it will save you this much money, and your services will be this much better.

Tonight I am asking the County legislature to approve an allocation of $500,000 of the 2006 $45 million dollar surplus to be used to develop a blueprint for government consolidation.

Tonight, I am also pleased to announce the following: the Hagedorn foundation, represented tonight by Amy Hagedorn has committed an additional $250,000 to match the County effort.

I have discussed this effort with Governor Spitzer directly and our New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli as well, and they have both offered to partner with us in this task. Governor Spitzer has assigned his Senior Advisor Lloyd Constantine to spearhead the State’s effort to work with us to help make government consolidation in Nassau County a model for the State of New York.

In addition, Comptroller DiNapoli will assign staff from his office to assist Nassau County in this task.

Any effort to reduce costs by consolidating governments must also preserve home rule and local zoning control. We want to maintain close-to-home government and protect the suburban character of our communities and neighborhoods.

At the same time, we must introduce economy and efficiency into these services or skyrocketing taxes will destroy those very communities.

Our consolidation effort begins tonight. We will work to achieve tangible goals every year so that by the year 2020, we will have streamlined and economized and reorganized one of the most top-heavy, most inefficient, most expensive and most archaic network of local suburban governments in the Country. Nassau will be the National Model for the new 21st Century suburban local government.

In addition to our consolidation goals to address the growing property tax burden, we must also grow our tax base and thereby relieve the pressure on residential taxpayers. We must grow.

We have had modest success with our Industrial Development Agency helping over 60 businesses to create 5,800 jobs and we have finally secured, with the help of Senator Dean Skelos, the creation of an Empire Zone. The Empire Zone offers important incentives to encourage high-tech companies to locate or invest in the Zone. Now we need a new way of thinking.

We must recognize that without change - there is no change.

While our children move to Manhattan, Brooklyn, Westchester and out of state and our companies move to Suffolk and out of state as well, we continue to see the same lack of long range planning and NIMBYism that has stopped growth for a decade.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want the traffic to get worse or our last pieces of open space to disappear. We do not need more fast food restaurants or drugstores and mega discount retail stores. But we do need planned targeted growth, especially around existing train stations, in downtowns, in minority communities and in the Nassau County HUB.

I do not believe that we are all opposed to mixed use office and residential complexes and new upscale malls. In fact we need more office space with good paying hi-skilled or hi-tech jobs, more affordable and diverse housing with nearby walkable retail, shops and restaurants. We need more sports, entertainment and tourism opportunities. Each of these will bring in more tax revenues, will take advantage of existing infrastructure and attract young people to live here, but it must be part of a plan.

I have talked about the concept of New Suburbia for years - the idea that marries the suburbia we love with modifications that address our problems.

Tonight, I am calling upon our town supervisors and our city and village mayors to come together to agree upon the top ten targeted areas for planned smart growth between now and 2020.

Clearly the Nassau County HUB should be number one with the downtown of the Village of Hempstead a close second. We need to agree on the remaining 8 locations. Should they include the 105 acre former Grumman property in Bethpage? What about the downtowns in Hicksville, Mineola and Freeport. Perhaps the commercial strip on Hempstead Turnpike surrounding Belmont racetrack or the Glen Cove waterfront or the newly created Empire Zones in New Cassel, Inwood and Roosevelt.

The key to expanding our tax base and improving our quality of life is the redevelopment of the area surrounding the coliseum, the revitalization of traditional downtowns surrounding train stations with mixed use, the recycling and re-use of brownfields and investment in our historically ignored minority communities.

Tonight, we must shake off the past and plan for responsible growth.

Whatever we do to consolidate government and reduce its cost and expand our commercial tax base, it still won’t be inexpensive to live here.

In return for the expense we get an unusually high standard of living. Our crime rate is low, the majority of our schools are rated tops in the nation, our services are excellent and our parks and beaches are getting better every day. But we must do better.

We believe in Governor Spitzer’s call, just yesterday, to make New York the healthiest State in the nation. Tonight, I am announcing a new initiative to make Nassau the healthiest county in the country by the year 2020.

Healthy Nassau, as part of our 2020 Vision, will build upon existing initiatives and add new ones to sustain a healthy environment - our air, land and water - and encourage healthy living - tending our bodies, minds and spirits.

Healthy Air - we are all concerned about global warming. As we wait for Washington to act, what can we do locally? The county government is currently purchasing 10% of our electricity from wind power. We use bio-diesel in our entire non-emergency diesel fleet and Long Island Bus is one of the cleanest bus fleets in the nation. We must do much more.

Tonight I am announcing that my administration will spearhead, in conjunction with County Executive Ron Sims of Kings County Washington and the Center for Clean Air Policy an initiative that will bring together large counties and cities from coast to coast with the goal of preparing local communities nationwide for the impacts of global climate change. We will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and using alternative fuels, alternative fuel vehicles, energy use reduction, mass transit options, re-powering of power plants with clean burning energy and green building design for county and public assets.

Healthy Land - we will preserve our last remaining open space and farm land and create new organic farms on county land. We will plant trees, improve streetscapes, and create greenways and bike paths. We will establish sustainable landscape practices to reduce the use of water, pesticides and fertilizer.

For the first time in the County’s history, with bi-partisan support the voters’ approved two Environmental Bond Acts, totaling $150 million.

We have already taken title to several watershed properties that shall remain forever wild. Tonight I am proud to announce that the county has purchased the development rights to the Meyer’s family farm in Woodbury which is one of the five remaining farms in Nassau County.

This will forever preserve the property while allowing the Meyers, who have farmed the land for 87 years, to continue farming.

We will also issue a Request for Proposals for the establishment of an organic farm at the Old Bethpage Restoration Village

Healthy Water - We are preserving open space in critical groundwater protection areas and putting in clean water projects such as swirl separators, sedimentation basins and constructed wetlands.

In addition, the county will develop its first Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan in over 30 years to preserve and protect our drinking water supply.

We will continue to work with our regional partners to restore the South Shore estuaries and the Long Island Sound.

Healthy Nassau is a comprehensive approach that in addition to protecting our environment we will also have to address the health of our bodies, minds and spirits. There is no question that the number one causes of death are related to tobacco, poor diet and lack of exercise.

There is no way I can force you to quit smoking, to eat a balanced diet and I can’t make you avoid fat or start exercising. You have to do it.

We can, however, seek a state authorized cigarette tax modeled after New York City, as proposed by Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs to discourage smoking. We can legislate a ban on trans fats in restaurants, the labeling of calorie counts on menus and we can encourage nutrition education in the schools - and we will.

We are going to make more biking, jogging and walking paths, schedule special fitness events and programs and expand indoor recreational facilities and thereby encourage all resident to exercise at least 30 minutes a day. We want you to walk or ride your bike instead of drive when ever possible.

We’re going to encourage preventive health care, regular examinations, reducing sun exposure.

We’re going to encourage wellness programs in the schools, we’re going to improve pedestrian safety, provide child safety programs and much more.

The Healthy Nassau program recognizes that the body, the mind and the spirit are closely connected. To that end we will also support holistic approaches to physical and mental health.

We are determined to help make Nassau the healthiest place to live in America.

Working together we can do it.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a great deal to do as we set out to accomplish our 2020 vision.

I believe in this vision of our future and will devote my public career to achieving these goals.

Balanced budgets, consolidated government, growth in our tax base and health initiatives are all a key to our long term success, but the main reason I entered into public service was to help the poor and fight injustice.

The greatest injustice I see locally is the failure to properly care for the school children of Roosevelt. As County executive I do not run the schools and Roosevelt is only one community among dozens here in Nassau. However, I can no longer tolerate the loss of another generation of young children because of our failure as community to help these children.

Over the past few months, I have been working with my staff, the administration at the Roosevelt schools and with not-for-profit agencies in Roosevelt, to bring all of our existing resources together in a plan to support the social service needs of the Roosevelt school children. School administrators need to be able to spend more of their time, effort and resources educating the children and not just doing social work.

Currently there are 9 County agencies, over 30 agencies already funded by the county, and dozens of other community organizations, not-for-profits, and others already providing some services in the one square mile of Roosevelt. The problem is that few of these agencies currently coordinate with the school district.

There need not be new tax dollars - we do not have them anyway. What we need to do is to use the lessons learned from our successful No Wrong Door Program, technology and better management tools to insure that each of the resources is working with the existing Roosevelt Family Support Center located within the school district.

Under this plan the high school, middle school and elementary school principals, parents, teachers, guidance counselors, social workers, school psychologists and the district superintendent will identify children with personal or family challenges and refer them to the Family Support Center who will match them with agency experts we or others are already funding, but which are not now linked with the school district.

This system will be more integrated, more effective and more accountable. I believe it will over time help turn the school around

I call on everyone interested in helping these children to join us as we work to correct an injustice that has gone on for too long. If successful, I hope to bring a similar effort to Hempstead next year and to other school districts in the future.

I ask you tonight, will you help us in this effort?

Our 2020 Vision for Nassau County that I have outlined tonight is for those who will be here then - each of us, the young families, with us now and yet to come, and the seniors who have brought up their children here in Nassau.

If we are to truly have 2020 Vision we cannot be blinded by fear, inaction or partisanship.

Our hope is that in 2020 people will look back and see the dramatic turn around in our county of the past five years and they will see that we did not stop here. We went further, setting ambitious goals that those before us either refused or were unable to tackle. When many predicted we were too weary or too beaten down, we again picked up the banner of public service and the common good and moved forward.

What I have talked about this evening is nothing less than a suburban Renaissance. We must recognize the greatness that can be ours once again.

Despite the sometimes overwhelming bad news we see on television or read in the newspaper it is only through courageous action that we will succeed or have ever succeeded. We need only look at what we have overcome here in our County government, pulling together with honest hard work and planned action.

Now is the time for us to seek a rebirth of Nassau County, to pursue fresh ideas, to follow a new vision toward the year 2020.

The challenges we have considered tonight will demand action not just by the people in this room. These challenges require active participation by every resident of our County, all of us together.

But, I do believe, sincerely and wholeheartedly, that the Nassau Renaissance will be a model for other suburban counties to follow in the Twenty-First Century. You can make it happen, and I believe you will make it happen.

So let us work together in that quest so that our children and grandchildren and generations far down the road will be the grateful beneficiaries. Let us care enough for them to act now and bring about the Nassau Renaissance.

2007 State of the County AddressCounty Executive Thomas R. Suozzi

2007 State of the County Address
County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi