AUBURN - From county government to child care and property assessments to prisons, Leadership Cayuga's class of 2005 presented its final projects Wednesday afternoon.
Their presentations were the culmination of six months of becoming experts on some part of Cayuga County. The program will graduate 23 students this year.
The program's purpose is threefold: help students get acquainted with an aspect of the community, learn teamwork and perfect their presentation skills.
"It presses their leadership skills," said Rosemary Oaks-Lee, the program's director.
In the past, Leadership Cayuga's recommendations have been influential. A group in the class of 1992 proposed establishing a bed tax and using the revenue to establish an office of tourism, which the county Legislature adopted in 1995.
One of the groups tackled the question of whether the county Legislature should change its form of government and what would be the best choice.
Partway into their research, the team chose to leave the choice to the Legislature and focus on how they could effectively engage voters so the change, if it came up for a referendum, would have a better shot at success. Referendums often fail because voters are not educated enough about the issues, and not because they are against the proposal, said Leadership Cayuga student Matt Starr.
"We want to preempt a no vote before it happens," he said.
The group also advocated the county drafting a charter, which would outline the county's government structure.
Legislator Peter Tortorici, chair of the Legislature's Government Operations Committee, said he would take the group's recommendations back to his committee.
"Government Ops has been working hard on the issue for over a year," he said.
"These guys hit it right on the head."
Another group explored equality in property assessments and found ways to make the dry topic humorous. They held up signs "Interpreter Available" and "Free No-Doze At Exits" while discussing more serious issues like equalization rates to ensure fair property-tax payments.
One of their recommendations called for establishing a county office of assessment to better coordinate assessments between municipalities and work toward having a 100 percent equalization rate countywide.
The program's purpose is threefold: help students get acquainted with an aspect of the community, learn teamwork and perfect their presentation skills.
"It presses their leadership skills," said Rosemary Oaks-Lee, the program's director.
In the past, Leadership Cayuga's recommendations have been influential. A group in the class of 1992 proposed establishing a bed tax and using the revenue to establish an office of tourism, which the county Legislature adopted in 1995.
One of the groups tackled the question of whether the county Legislature should change its form of government and what would be the best choice.
Partway into their research, the team chose to leave the choice to the Legislature and focus on how they could effectively engage voters so the change, if it came up for a referendum, would have a better shot at success. Referendums often fail because voters are not educated enough about the issues, and not because they are against the proposal, said Leadership Cayuga student Matt Starr.
"We want to preempt a no vote before it happens," he said.
The group also advocated the county drafting a charter, which would outline the county's government structure.
Legislator Peter Tortorici, chair of the Legislature's Government Operations Committee, said he would take the group's recommendations back to his committee.
"Government Ops has been working hard on the issue for over a year," he said.
"These guys hit it right on the head."
Another group explored equality in property assessments and found ways to make the dry topic humorous. They held up signs "Interpreter Available" and "Free No-Doze At Exits" while discussing more serious issues like equalization rates to ensure fair property-tax payments.
One of their recommendations called for establishing a county office of assessment to better coordinate assessments between municipalities and work toward having a 100 percent equalization rate countywide.
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