While it's encouraging to see the county Legislature show overall support this week for creating a first-stop economic development agency, there's still considerable work to do. Until there's money in the final budget to make this change happen, nothing is a done deal.

And based on some of the comments made by legislators at a special meeting Tuesday, there's reason for concern.

Some legislators are questioning why this agency needs to be established so soon, perhaps as soon as the next budget year. Their worry stems from the overall economic mess that's trickling down from Wall Street to state government to municipal government. No doubt, the county will be looking at some difficult budget cuts in the next spending plan, so it's tempting to say that funding for a new agency cannot be considered.

It's also tempting to say the county should have total control over the agency's makeup.

But this is not - or to state it better, should not be - any agency. This is a badly needed structural change in the way economic development gets done in Cayuga County. It's well established that local economic development efforts are disjointed at best. The alphabet soup of agencies that rarely work cohesively has not done an effective job at bringing employers to this area, or at keeping many employers from leaving or downsizing.

What's needed is an entity that brings all of these players together, and that's what the county's proposal is aimed at doing. It will do this in large part by making the city of Auburn and the county's private sector direct stakeholders in its success.

More important than anything else, this agency's sole purpose is to bring jobs and revenues to the county. It's an agency that should more than pay for itself.

And in a time when the economy is in terrible condition, it's an agency this county cannot afford to be without.