Calling 2013 a “pivotal year for Albany County,” County Executive Dan McCoy said in his State of the County Address he wants to keep up momentum built in 2012 by continuing consolidations, establishing more partnerships, seeking ways to save money and making meaningful movement on the county nursing home.
“We have started to pave the way down the road to recovery,” he said.
That road includes meeting the state’s 2 percent property tax cap by 2015, McCoy announced in the speech delivered Monday, March 11, from the county offices in downtown Albany. He spoke to a room packed with county officials, state workers and members of the community.
Meeting the tax cap, McCoy said, will require “willingness to forge new partnerships and face challenges that have been left unsolved for decades.”
“Our financial plan in 2012 was a jumpstart for Albany County on the road to fiscal recovery. This long term financial plan ensures that Albany County can meet the 2 percent property tax cap by 2015,” McCoy said.
The county raised property taxes by 7.6 percent in the 2013 budget, and by 8 percent the year before that.
McCoy pointed to several accomplishments during his first year in office, including a partnership with Schenectady County Community College that will allow up to 1,000 students to take classes in the Harold L. Joyce Albany County Office Building. The initiative provides alternative higher education options for Albany County students as well as reduces the high costs of community college payments, she said.
The county also reestablished the Albany County Veterans Service Bureau and partnered with John Downing and Solider On, a nationally-recognized program for homeless veterans. Through the partnership, Solider On established an Albany County Resource and Referral Center on the property near the former Heritage Park site with plans to develop housing for veterans.
In the way of cost savings, McCoy touted an emergency dispatch agreement that handed dispatch duties to the sheriff’s office in Watervliet, Cohoes and Green Island. McCoy said he would like to pursue more consolidations other municipalities. The county also consolidated areas like the law department by moving the Department of Social Services and Department of Children Youth and Families’ legal staff into one office.
“Consolidation means the cost of doing business will continue to go down,” McCoy said. “This will enable us to reach the 2 percent property tax cap. That means you, the taxpayer, will save money.”
McCoy also made mention of a number of social initiatives the county pursued in 2012. Free hands-only CPR training was rolled out, as was a program on educating the public of unsafe infant sleeping.
The county executive also announced he would make “green” initiatives a priority in 2013, especially when it comes to paper use reduction. The county will be purchasing “CoSign,” a software program that will allow for digital signatures to reduce the “staggering amount of paperwork to be signed on a weekly basis,” McCoy said. The county will also be issuing the Albany County Team Green task force to propose new ways the county can further cut costs and reduce its carbon footprint.
“As a father, I know how important this is for the next generation … our children. We will leave a better planet for our kids,” he said.
In last year’s address, McCoy announced he would make solving the county’s nursing home crisis a priority. One year later, a lease agreement with a private company is on the table but is seemingly mired in the County Legislature. In his speech, McCoy urged legislators to sign the agreement, saying it would save the county $100 million over the next 10 years and protect the county’s vulnerable seniors.
“Let me be clear. Each month that an agreement is delayed is costing taxpayers $1 million,” McCoy said. “Make no mistake, my commitment to those residing at the nursing home and to the most vulnerable of our citizens has not and will never waiver.”
Following the speech, Legislature Chairman Shawn Morse called 2012 a “bumpy year” due to unfunded mandates and bills being passed onto the county government. He said McCoy’s hope to have the county within the tax cap by 2015 was “wishful thinking.”
“Just the unfunded mandates alone make it almost impossible,” Morse said. “But I think overall the County Executive did an excellent job. He took over a county that was really in dire straits.”