State of Wicomico County address

Richard M. Pollitt, Jr., Wicomico County Executive

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Before we begin, I would like to recognize, with a moment of silent regret, the passing of a great American patriot and former president, Gerald R. Ford. President Ford, in his short stay at the White House, did as much or more than any other President in recent history to bring healing and stability to our nation after years of strife associated with Viet Nam and Watergate. He was a good and decent man and he will be remembered well.

Good afternoon and thank you for being here today in the midst of this

busy and joyous season. Happy holidays!

I took the oath of office to become your first elected County Executive

23 short days ago. They have been hectic, exciting and challenging days.

As you would expect, I have spent much of my time meeting with county personnel, telling them of my plans and requirements and hearing of their successes and challenges. The same charter amendment that created the position of county executive requires me to report to you

on the state of the county before the end of the year. I am here today to share with you my first impressions as they have been molded over the past three weeks. Obviously, I have had no influence on the state of the county thus far and my address today will involve more of a recap of things generally known and reported in earlier forums.

I could talk to you about the decline in public confidence which led to the creation of the County Executive form of government, detailing all of the things some have complained is wrong with our county. Instead, I choose to tell you what is right with our county and touch on one or two ideas I have to make things even better. If public trust and confidence is to be restored in the integrity of our county government, it will come not by our words but by our deeds. It will come not in a few weeks or a few months; perhaps not for a few years. But it will come.

I said during the recent campaign that I would not charge up the steps of the government office building, vowing to make heads roll and turning our operations upside down. If changes are to come and most certainly, changes will come, it will be only after careful deliberation and only when something better is in place. By the end of my first term I will be content to stand on my record to be judged accordingly by the citizens of our county. For now, let’s concentrate on the positive.

Fortunately, we have very competent Department heads here in Wicomico County and at my request, the County Council recently unanimously confirmed them all to continue in office. So, the people’s business has continued to be conducted seamlessly before and after my arrival.

I asked each county department head to submit some highlights from

their many impressive acts of public service in the recent past. It is my

pleasure to share a few with you as part of my report to you and all of

our citizens.

Wicomico County gained national recognition as one of the “100 best

Communities for young people – 2005” for innovative solutions to community challenges as compiled by America’s Promise/Alliance for Youth. A $20,000 cash award was attached to the designation, which Linda Hardman, Executive Director of the Wicomico Partnership for Families and Children will use to fund the youth Leadership Academy. Congratulations, Linda!

This has been a year of great progress in Wicomico County, both in services and in growth. We realize our duty is to manage our growth well and to make our services reach as many of our citizens as we can. In line with that;

--We adopted our first residential development impact fee to support

educational facility needs.

We secured $375,000 in federal funds to further the county’s housing

rehabilitation programs.

--There is a new road in Sharptown! Rai Sharma and the good people at Public works completed the thousand foot corporation road project this year.

--We have started construction on the Landfill “gas to energy” project.

This one-of-a-kind facility on the Lower Eastern Shore will shortly be

producing electric energy for our citizens.

One of the major points of my campaign was the importance of preserving our beautiful Lower Eastern Shore.

It makes me proud to report that our current recycling rate for solid waste of 26% is well above the state-mandated goal of 15%. This is as much a tribute to our ecology-minded citizens as it is a triumph for county government.

-- In Pittsville, the second branch in the history of our county library is doing very well. Director Tom Hehman also gave me the good news that the new, 34-foot bookmobile will be delivered in January. Both of these take on greater significance in light of some statistics published just this week in a national newspaper. There are 9,207 public libraries in the

U. S. Of these, only 17% have branches and just 8% have bookmobiles. By committing to a strong library program, we commit to a better educated and better informed population.

Our Health Department and Department of Corrections played key roles in the establishment of the Circuit Court’s Adult Drug Court.

Corrections Director Devenyns has told me that there are approximately 25 individuals participating in Drug Court who would otherwise be incarcerated. This is an important tool to use in restoring to productive citizenship, many who have lost their way.

You may have read in the Daily Times this morning that Wicomico County saw a record number of acres placed in agricultural protection districts this year. Over 1100 acres either received permanent easements, removing them from development’s temptation or received preliminary approval for eventual easement protection. This is very good news for those of us who seek to retain the rural nature of our county and support our farmers in the continuing health of their industry. As with nearly everything else we do, there is a requirement of substantial local dollars to keep this program working. It is my hope and my intention to promote additional state funding, as well as

continuing local support for agricultural preservation in the new budget.

These are just a few of the many notable achievements reached by our dedicated county workers. As time passes, I will share with you our other success stories.

Taxpayers always want to know, and well they should, how government is handling their money. I believe we are doing a good job at the moment and it’s only going to get better. Last week, I presented the annual auditor’s report for the fiscal year ending June 30th to the County Council.

That report, compiled by the Salisbury accounting firm of PKS, confirms the solid financial health of our county. Bear in mind, however, that county revenue figures of the past few years have been fueled by the hottest real estate market in recent history.

The fact that it has begun to cool is uppermost in my mind as we plan for future sources of revenue. With Pat Petersen’s assistance, I am going to graphically present some recent financial statistics.

Slide 1 – revenue

Wicomico County is not a business…far from it…we’re a government and our job is not to make money, but to serve our neighbors……the residents of wicomico county. Nevertheless, it takes money to help us achieve our mandated and desired goals and objectives. In 2006, we took in $118,465,000. Of this, about 46% came from property taxes, both on real estate as well as businesses; 37% from income taxes and 17% from other sources such as fees for services, licenses and permits and interest on investments. It should be noted that all property taxes, both real and business, increased over $7 million from 2002 and total revenue increased by more than $26 million in that time period.

Slide 2 – expenditures

This chart shows where all our revenue went last year with education taking the biggest share…as it should in any community that cares about its future.

Slide 3 – Revenue v. Expenditure

The big difference between government and business is that government is the ultimate non-profit enterprise. We exist solely to provide services that, as individual citizens, we cannot provide for ourselves. While we do not wish to operate at a deficit, neither do we intend to generate a

large surplus on the backs of our taxpayers.

Government should take in only that amount of revenue necessary to provide the services we all want and expect. If unusually large surpluses are seen year after year, it is a sign that government is overcharging the

taxpayer. I am happy to report that Wicomico County continues to “live within its means” as we ended the last fiscal year with a modest positive result of $12.7 million. We continue to enjoy the benefits of a strong economy, even as we acknowledge that many of our needs remain under-funded. These additional funds will be applied to the budget I shall propose to the County Council next year and will be devoted to addressing many of those needs.

As I prepare my budget plan for next year, I shall explain the concepts of “maintenance of effort” and “adequacy” as they apply to public education. I shall explain the condition of our County road system and show how some roads have not been paved due to insufficient funding.

I shall further describe our challenge in recruiting and keeping highly qualified employees in our educational system, our Sheriff’s Department, our Emergency Operations Center and other vital areas where we are not competitive with other jurisdictions in salary and benefit packages. And, finally, I shall address our capital facilities needs and their influence on the overall strength of our foundation.

While it is vitally important that we conclude the fiscal year with a surplus as opposed to the alternative, we must accept the fact that more is needed to do justice to our mission. But that is a presentation for another day. It should also be noted that, in FY 2006, we had a very successful bond sale. Wicomico County received excellent reviews from the three New York credit rating agencies which resulted in 10 firms vying for our bonds and a sale of $11,225,000 at 3.8%. So, our County is financially healthy but, as I already mentioned, we cannot

permit the recent real estate boom to lull us into fiscal complacency.

My campaign slogan was “building bridges…building community.” I am pleased to announce that this is no longer a slogan but it is now the theme of the first major initiative of my administration, the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress, inspired by neighborhood improvement activists, Salisbury City Council woman Debbie Campbell and

George “Rocky” Burnett, of the College Neighborhood Association.

I have asked Ms. Campbell and Mr. Burnett to play key roles in establishing a task force and a steering committee to make this initiative happen. The Wicomico Neighborhood Congress will be a grass roots association of neighborhoods throughout the county, charged with bringing focus and greater community involvement to the health and stability of our county. We envision an organization that will meet as often as necessary to promote community programs such as “neighborhood watch” and to achieve a greater sense of public awareness for the challenges affecting our homes. As our initiative

takes shape, we will seek out and encourage the input of the public.

Make no mistake about it; a community is only as good as its worst neighborhood…. I’m talking about all of our municipalities and their neighborhoods as well as neighborhoods in the unincorporated areas of the county.

As the integrity of our community is threatened by unchecked development and rising crime, it’s incumbent on us to recapture our struggling neighborhoods and make them a safe place for children to play and for families to live in peace.

Many of us can remember when no one locked their doors at night. We may not be able to return to those times, but we can try.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and we’re taking that step today as we initiate the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress.

As I promised in my campaign, I am well on the way to establishing an incentive program whereby county employees will be encouraged and rewarded for finding ways to perform more efficiently and economically to the benefit our taxpayers.

In fact, the means to implement this plan are in place and I shall soon direct our department heads to turn their immediate attention to putting my words into practice. Among the most important goals I set for my first month in office was the creation of a strong relationship

with our County Council and Legislative delegation. Having survived the recent election campaign, I believe a bond has been established between each of us that will solidify our commitment to work together for the benefit of the citizens of Wicomico County. I have met officially and unofficially with the County Council several times since we assumed office on December 5^th and I have met with our Eastern Shore delegation to discuss our expectations for the coming session of the Maryland General Assembly.

I sincerely believe we will approach our association with professionalism and respect for one another and this can only mean good things for Wicomico County.

Another important goal of mine is the creation of a more open and accessible government, a “glass house,” if you will. In selecting veteran public relations consultant, Jim Fineran, as the new county Public Information Officer, I am resurrecting a program that will not just present the news of government, but will provide means for the community to participate and interact with us as well. In the months ahead, we shall be putting into effect a program that invites and makes possible public scrutiny of all that we do. Rest assured that our citizens are going to be informed about their government as never before.

In closing, let me say that it is time for us to do better in Wicomico County. We cannot and we will not allow ourselves to be content with the status quo. We need to keep improving, keep building on all the hard work our predecessors have put into making Wicomico County such a desirable place to live and work and raise a family.

You have charged me with the responsible and professional conduct of your government and I will not fail you.

Let us move into the new year with one central purpose…to make our Wicomico County even better next year than it is today.

Happy holidays and best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2007!