County Executive News

County Executive Mike Breslin Presents State of the County Address

Albany County Executive Mike Breslin presented his State of the County address Monday, March 9, 2009, detailing his vision for the future. Breslin focused on the economy and how it may affect Albany County. He detailed major initiatives for community-based services for long term care, mental health, and children and families.

Breslin noted that sales tax revenues have declined in five of the last six quarters. "If this trend continues, the sales tax shortfall alone will cause a multi-million dollar budget deficit this year," he said. Falling sales tax revenue, combined with proposed State budget cuts and the expiration of temporary federal revenue will create a budget gap that will require difficult choices about the way Albany County provides services.
He strengthened his commitment to serve the elderly, poor children and individuals with disabilities and mental illness, despite the difficult and uncertain economy.

"In my judgment, the best way to meet this commitment is to serve individuals in the community, which improves quality of life by promoting independence and choice while avoiding the significantly higher costs of institutional care," said Breslin.

Breslin acknowledged several successful community-based initiatives implemented by the County including the Community Assessment and Referral Team, which assists individuals with mental illness, the Re-Entry Task Force which assists offenders returning to the community from incarceration, and the Expanded In-Home Services for the Elderly Program which assists those in need of long term care.

Finally, Breslin acknowledged that local economic development is essential to balancing the economy. "It is more important than ever that we utilize all of our economic development tools to attract new businesses and help create more jobs - that includes supporting the Albany County Al Tech Board and their new Technology Acceleration Fund as well as the Albany County Empire Zones, which are far exceeding State standards and giving back to our community much more than they receive."

Breslin concluded his speech by thanking all of the hard-working County employees and expressing his dedication to finding new and innovative ways to improve services in face of the challenging and uncertain economy.

The speech in its entirety can be found online here.

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