Nassau County closed 1999 with a $21 million surplus, successfully eliminating its cumulative deficit. Throughout 1999, some in the media have bombarded us with predictions that Nassau County would end its 1999 Fiscal year with a $300 million deficit. After having reconciled the county's books for 1999, the Nassau County Comptroller officially stated that Nassau County ended 1999 with a $21 million surplus.

With the most recent 1999 surplus, Nassau County has realized surpluses in five of the past seven years. This has been accomplished without increasing the county's general property taxes for seven consecutive years by accessing non-recurring revenues to pay for expenditures.

We still have more work to do to make certain that we ensure the county's future fiscal health by achieving structural integrity. That is the reason why I have hired a nationally renowned financial management firm that is crafting a tough bipartisan plan that will establish options for cutting government spending and creating new revenue sources. It will require the strong bipartisan political will of the legislature working with the administration to implement the tough actions necessary to ensure the county's fiscal health.

The citizens of our county rightfully expect their elected officials to stop the finger pointing, to put partisan politics aside and to solve the problem now! This problem was not created by one branch of government alone, and it can only be solved with the bipartisan cooperation of both branches of county government.

There has been talk of a control board or a fiscal oversight board. If the political will is lacking to enact the tough measures necessary to solve this problem, then a control board or oversight board must be considered. I will not preside over the fiscal demise of Nassau County. A control board, however, must not be a convenient escape for locally elected officials to abridge their duty and responsibility to enact the tough measures that will ensure our county's fiscal health, and must only be a last resort when all else fails. We were elected to deal with issues just like this and deal with it we must, if we are to justify the confidence of our residents. I am prepared to do just that and I know that many of my colleagues in the county legislature are as well.

I will continue to press for the bipartisan cooperation necessary to make the tough decisions that will ensure the county's fiscal health and justify the confidence of our residents.