Throughout 1999, some in the media bombarded our citizens with predictions that Nassau County would end the fiscal year with a $300 million deficit. Now, the Office of Independent Budget Review, after studying the issue is saying that Nassau County is likely to have closed its books on 1999 with no deficit and perhaps a small surplus. If this is accurate, it means that Nassau County has realized a surplus in five of the past seven years without increasing general property taxes for seven consecutive years.

There are some who say we should have increased property taxes as some municipalities did. I have found the property tax to be most onerous upon the elderly on fixed incomes and upon young couples trying to establish themselves in our communities. It was and is my desire to keep Nassau County the type of place where families can stay together, where our parents are not forced to move elsewhere because they cannot afford to live here, or where our children are forced to relocate because it is too costly to live here. Accordingly, instead of increasing property taxes, we accessed nonrecurring revenues (e.g., grants from the state and federal governments). As long as we were able to access nonrecurring revenues to fund services, there was no need to increase property taxes.

Simultaneously, we are cutting government spending. One area that has been exempted from cuts are programs affecting older Americans. In other areas, however, I have cut the county payroll by 49 percent, cut $281 million in department spending requests, and cut $60 million in government spending in 1999, and saved taxpayers another $60 million in 2000 in new revenue and spending cuts.

I believe that, in part, our refusal to increase property taxes in Nassau County has resulted in the most dramatic increase in property values anywhere in the region. The single most important investment of our homeowners has dramatically increased, in part, because of the policies we have instituted. In addition, Nassau's crime rate is the lowest in 30 years and one of the lowest in the nation, while our employment rate is the highest in the State of New York. Nassau County contains some of the highest per capita income communities in the nation with the highest spendable income. Our county has been and continues to be rated among the best places in the nation in which to live.

It is likely that despite some media hype, that we ended 1999 with no deficit. We are now working diligently to cut spending in order to balance the county's year 2000 budget adopted by the County Legislature. I want to keep Nassau County a great place to live. I am proud of our county and I am proud of you. It is because of your hard work that today we can be proud to call Nassau County our home.