ED DAY’S PLATFORM

During his recent fundraiser County Legislator Ed Day, the GOP’s current lead candidate for the 2013 county executive race, offered some precepts and plans that people could expect as part of his administration.

Day said if elected he would:

· Immediately implement a complete zero based budget

· Formulate an immediate plan of action designed to recreate county government. One that will be supported and implemented by the people found within our own county workforce, the business community; town and state officials; and interested professionals within the community at large. All options are included in this initiative, including strategies of tapping into the expertise of a corporate turnaround specialist.

· Have an outreach with state, town, and village levels of government with the goal of charting out a unified approach to governance, such as when Day joined with officials from various levels of government to propose permanently eliminate the tax burden of community college chargebacks as opposed to the typical, political answer of kicking the can down the road and passing them along onto town tax bills.

· Increasing taxes is not the answer. That is a job killer and a people chaser. The answer lies within increasing wealth and the tax base, and to that end we will chart out an aggressive course of action for economic development.

· Fiscal responsibility and a balanced approach to government will be a core value of my administration.
· Fund basic, important functions such as services for public safety, public health, roads, a basic animal care and control function, and services to returning war heroes.

· Every employee will be expected to effectively deliver needed services to our community, and the people’s priorities will always trump “sometimes show” or “little work” patronage jobs.

· Create new service models both within county government and through effective consolidations across government boundaries, using partnerships that will enhance services and save money in areas such as law enforcement and highway. Instead of focusing on which level of government is budgeting the service, the goal will be to reduce the total cost of each and every citizens tax bill.

· Engage in an immediate assessment to ensure that those who look to game the social service system in any way will not have that opportunity.

· Accountability in government, and concepts such as customer service and efficiency will become the new normal.

· Be the leader who stays out in front of our problems, whether they are natural disasters; projected financial difficulties; or anything in between.

· Develop a plan to improve communication during crises.

· Self-iimpose a term limit on tenure as county executive to two terms.

· Will not enlist or re-enter into the pension system to gain another pension, commonly referred to as double dipping.

· Contract agencies will be fully re-assessed and funded as they should; in a manner that augments necessary or mandated services that government should, but cannot efficiently, provide. Organizations that are inefficient, have top heavy administrative expenses, or high salary costs will not be funded by our taxpayer dollars.

· Continue to address significant matters that affect all Rocklanders, issues that i have been front and center on for many years including the Tappan Zee Bridge, the MTA, public safety, and property and sales tax relief.

  ed day