“Growing up, not growing out,” was Wayne County Administrator Rick House’s goal during his first year as administrator, a goal that he feels the county accomplished.
House, along with Board of Supervisors Chairman and Sodus Town Supervisor, Steve LeRoy, sat down with the Times of Wayne County on Tuesday to discuss the state of the county as they enter the new year. LeRoy also completed his first year in his role as chairman of the board.
“That was the goal this year, and I think we succeeded,” House said. “We worked very hard – collectively with the chairman, the rest of the supervisors, myself and the fiscal assistant – in being able to pair down some costs and still get the delivery of the services needed.”
House explained that one of the ways they did that was to set rules when it came to hiring new employees. The positions either had to be mandated by the state, or they had to be cost-neutral to the county.
They added four positions in the behavioral health system, which House indicated would generate revenue for the county by taking on additional cases.
“When you look at all the numbers, it was actually going to garner the county about a quarter of a million dollars in extra revenue,” House said. “That’s a prime example of where we were able to provide better services without throwing a lot of money at it.”
Both county leaders gave much of the credit to the board and the department heads for creating a culture of open dialogue, particularly during the budget process. They began the process a month earlier than normal in June.
House said they started the process earlier partly to give him extra time since he was dealing with a much larger budget than he’d ever dealt with before. But since they began earlier, they also had an extra month for committee discussion. They met as a committee of the whole prior to finalizing the budget to openly discuss which direction they wanted to go.
“The key word here has been communication,” LeRoy acknowledged. “Rick has brought very good structure into the county. We’ve surrounded ourselves with good people and have empowered them to their jobs.”
The county also plans to begin implementing the marketing strategy that was adopted in July. At the county board meeting on Tuesday, they hired a new director of economic development and planning, Brian Pincelli, who will be in charge of spearheading the strategy.
“Our hope there is that we have hired someone who has got energy and foresight,” LeRoy said.
While they feel that Wayne County is in a overall great place, LeRoy said that they still face the never-ending hurdles of unfunded state mandates. According to LeRoy, the state, “Keeps forcing more down our throats with no way of paying for it.”
They once again lowered the tax rate, which LeRoy said they have been on a roll doing for the past five years, but it hasn’t been without sacrifice. They had to lay off 40 employees one year and cut from $600,000 from the highway budget another year to avoid raising taxes.
“We’re always keeping in mind our senior citizens and people on fixed incomes who just can’t afford to keep paying higher and higher taxes, so we have to get some relief,” House said. “As administrators, you can never sit still; you’re always trying to stay ahead of the curve, and you’re always going to run into challenges.”
The post State of the County… How are we doing? appeared first on Times of Wayne County.