Thursday, February 1, 2007

Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr.
Elected to NYSAC Board of Directors
 

Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. today announced that he has been elected to the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) Board of Directors.

“I believe that major fiscal issues that impact all counties in New York need to be dealt with on a unified front, and I look forward to working with our county leaders and state legislators to achieve the essential goal of lessening the impact of state-mandated programs on local property taxpayers,” Picente said.

"We are pleased that County Executive Picente has agreed to serve on our Board of Directors,” said NYSAC President Lucille M. McKnight. “His understanding of state and local government issues will be a valuable asset to our board and to our NYSAC member counties.”

 “NYSAC has made a tremendous impact on New York State in the past several years. I am honored to be on the board that will steer the association into the future,” said Mr. Picente. “This is also an opportunity to help Oneida County while helping the Association of Counties move forward with an agenda aim at helping all counties rein in the burden on local property taxpayers.”  

NYSAC’s Key Legislative Priorities include:

• Capping counties’ financial liability for the Pre-school Special Education and Early Intervention programs;
• Fully implementing the local Medicaid cap as part of the Governor’s expanded Medicaid reform effort;
• Holding Counties harmless from retroactive rate increases associated with state training school placements (as a result of failure by the NYS Office of Children and Family Services to annually update their reimbursement rates);
• Reforming the Public Employment Relations Act to support the needs of local taxpayers;
• Reforming state policy for housing State prisoners in local correctional facilities; and
• Pursuing mandate relief measures to reduce fiscal burdens.

            “NYSAC continues to have an aggressive agenda for local property tax relief that involves reducing unfunded mandates, increasing local flexibility and improving local-state relations,” said NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario. “ County Executive Picente’s experience and energy will help our efforts to achieve this agenda.”