I have been working for Cayuga County for nearly eight weeks. I have discovered a number of serious problems that presently exist within county government.

When you take the time to visit the various county buildings, you are first struck with the deterioration and disrepair of each of them. Little or no preventive maintenance has occurred over the years. Consequently, the county may in the near future need to invest large amounts of capital to upgrade and maintain these structures to make them safe and workable.

While the county should focus upon a long term capital plan to upgrade its existing facilities, it must commence a full and extensive preventive maintenance program, which must be adopted and funded.

Another area which warrants upgrading is the county's Information Technology and Data Processing Departments. I have experienced first hand the flaws of the existing accounting and budgetary software during the preparation of the 2007 budget. This software is antiquated, time consuming, plagued with problems, and is unreliable.

There is no organizational structure nor current policies that clearly define a chain of authority within county government. Some county departments have become an entity responsible to themselves and do not view themselves as part of the collective family of county government. This malady supports the lack of accountability and waste of resources.

The county has begun to focus on organizational structure with the hiring of a county manager. It must now review its present policies in order to strengthen and centralize its control of all county operations and staff. In some cases, new policies must be written and adopted.

Department budgets must be structurally balanced where recurring appropriations are financed by recurring revenues. A structural sound budget limits the use of one time revenues in the funding of recurring expenses. Underestimating expenses and overestimating revenues will only lead to financial chaos and calamity.

I believe that there are preordained standards all county elected officials desire. They are not to waste tax dollars, have a safe work environment for both employees and our clientele, treat county employees with respect and fairness and most of all to address the needs and the desires of the Cayuga County taxpayers and residents.

I am confident working with the Legislature and all the department heads, we can work collaboratively to address these challenges. It is our goal to make Cayuga County government responsive, efficient and accountable to its people. I look forward to the future because Cayuga County's best days lay ahead of us.