FIRST TERM REFLECTION
Heading into second term, McLaughlin confident in county's trajectory in 2022
Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin reflected on the completion of his first term in office. He discussed numerous accomplishments from the past year. Plus, McLaughlin provided a glimpse into what residents can expect in 2022 and beyond.
“It’s been an incredibly successful year, and an incredibly successful first term, unmatched really in county history,” McLaughlin sai during a recent phone interview.
“170 miles of roads paved in four years, 70 this past year alone. That’s a record, it’s not even remotely close to what was happening here before. So, we’re rebuilding our roads, rebuilding our infrastructure, a lot of projects coming to fruition. A couple of bridge projects getting completed or already completed, new fire training tower is underway, that’s a $4 million dollar project. We’ve got $30 million in debt is gone in four years. Strongest bond rating in county history. A ten percent tax cut this year alone, 19 percent lower than when I took office,” McLaughlin detailed on the accomplishments of his administration thus far.
McLaughlin was also confident in the trajectory of the county moving forward.
“So, jobs, everything is pointing up in Rensselaer County, the county is doing phenomenally well. So, we’re looking to continue that incredible track record. We will continue that track record. We just won a huge mandate re-election with 65 percent of the vote, so I think the people certainly support us and are well aware of the accomplishments of this administration,” McLaughlin noted on support from voters.
“The county would probably average between 12 to 20 miles in a year, so to do 70 in one year without borrowing money, paying for all of it, it’s a pretty massive accomplishment. To have 50 percent of the roads done in four years is incredible, so, I think people recognize it, they appreciate it and that’s just part of what we view as the mission here,” McLaughlin continued.
“We protected our senior citizens at the Manor. We defied Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home order, that was the right thing to do. We brought telemedicine every one of our Medicaid recipients. We’re the county in the nation to do it. We’ve now expanded telemedicine to every single county resident, no matter who they’re insured by or whether they’re insured at all, they have the ability to use telemedicine,” McLaughlin noted on additional accomplishments in the past year.
The County Executive additionally discussed some of the ongoing projects in the county, as well as development in the works.
“The fire training tower is an important project because it is part of our economic development. It gets our firefighters and our EMS trained the way they need to be trained. So it’s really an important piece of the puzzle that kind of shows that we’re doing the right thing and that we’re open for business and the folks that live here or work here are going to be protected or served by those who are really well trained. So that’s an important thing. In fact, the only money that this administration has bonded in four years is that training tower. Everything else, we have been reducing debt,” McLaughlin explained.
“What the folks can look forward to next year is more infrastructure improvements, continue to pave roads like never before. Our goal is to get them all paved within eight years, which would be unprecedented. So, our road infrastructure will be completely rebuilt. I think it’s important to note too that we do not do what others around the state, around the country, and even in this county have done, we don’t throw an inch of pavement down and call it a day. We are taking these roads down to their surface, to the base, rebuilding that base, and rebuilding that road correctly. That’s really important because throwing an inch of pavement down looks great for a year until the plows eat it up and then you’re back to square one,” McLaughlin reiterated on the need for thorough paving.
“On top of that, the folks can look for a lot of culvert work next year, a lot of pipework. One of the issues with the county is the county’s growing in certain areas and it’s growing pretty rapidly, so what was designed years and years ago you now in some places have housing developments that are impacting the infrastructure of the county because what was designed 50-60 years ago, it no longer is holding up to the demands on that. So we’re gonna be redoing a lot of our culverts, a lot of our drainage work, that’ll be next year. We’ll spend the winter limbing trees and clearing off roadways. We believe there’s another big warehouse project coming down in the Schodack area, which is gonna be even more jobs on top of the 1,000 jobs Amazon brought in and we’re gonna be spending some of the American Recovery Act money on water and sewer projects that’s gonna improve the long-term health of the county. So, those are some of the highlights of what we’re doing and then there’s so much that the folks don’t necessarily see,” McLaughlin continued on the additional infrastructure and economic development projects ahead.
Recently, the county received a New York Municipal Insurance award for its risk reduction and mitigation at nursing homes. To that end, McLaughlin also spoke to a new modernized senior center potentially featuring a cafe, movie room, and library.
“We have a brand new senior center that’ll come online in the spring, right here in Troy. That’s gonna be very modern, very welcoming. We don’t want the old days of sitting there and having a meal and playing bingo. That’s now who today’s seniors really are. So, we’re addressing that. It’s gonna be a pretty unique and exciting senior center where it’s gonna be a place that people wanna come to and I think that’s gonna serve more than just Troy,” McLaughlin noted on creating more activities for seniors.
McLaughlin also addressed some state issues and their impact on his county and other municipalities.
“We’re gonna continue to advocate for mandate relief. This county, along with every other county deals with an incredible amount of state mandates that they want to force down to the county level and that’s not just us, that’s everybody has to deal with it. So, to the point where every 94 to 96 cents of every tax dollar that we collect is already gone, already spoken for. So if you think about the amazing results we’ve had, we’re doing that on four to six cents per dollar of tax money, and on top of that we’re cutting the taxes,” McLaughlin noted on maneuvering through state mandates.
“The other thing we’re gonna push hard and I think you’re seeing this get a voice statewide is bail reform just simply has to change. Our people are being killed by people who should be sitting in jail and they should be sitting there for a very good reason. So this is an overreach by a Liberal, Progressive government that went too far with their social experiment and it needs to be reined in because the peope of New York are demanding that and deserve to be able to walk the streets of their neighborhoods without being assaulted by people who should be in jail,” McLaughlin remarked on the need to reform some of the recent criminal justice laws passed by the state legislature.
In 2022, counties will also be navigating how to deal with the implementation of cannabis dispensaries in some municipalities, an issue McLaughlin also addressed.
“Interestingly, it’s going to be an interesting decision as municipalities, not the county but each municipality really has a decision to make on marijuana dispensaries. That is not our decision. That was wrongly taken out of the hands of counties and handed to the towns and cities. So each town, I think it’s by the end of this month , they’ve got to make a decision whether they’re opting out. If they don’t opt-out, they’re in. So, they’ve gotta make a decision on what they wanna do,” McLaughlin said.
“Our contention as a county has always been that the county should play a bigger role in this. By the way that was originally what happened was it was up to the counties. Andrew Cuomo didn’t like that because there was some big counties, like Nassau, Suffolk, that were saying we’re not doing this, so they redo things and hand it off to the municipalities,” McLaughlin continued regarding how the plan was rolled out at the state level.
McLaughlin also noted some of his additional concerns on how county services could be potentially burdened by unforeseen issues arising from the implementation of the dispensaries.
“You’re starting to see a lot of municipalities say no we’re not gonna do that in our municipality because we know the problems that are gonna ensue. The issue here, it isn’t so much the town or city that is gonna be footing the bill for the problems that occur. It’s the county that pays the bill on social services and the jail. Granted, everybody that’s part of the county is paying those taxes, we understand that but it’s county resources that are gonna be taxed enormously with this policy. So to take the counties out of it was wrong but we kind of have our hands tied a little bit, we have to wait and see what the towns and cities do,” McLaughlin added, noting that most of those revenues will go to the opted-in municipalities, not the county.
McLaughlin, who supports decriminalization of cannabis, added he took umbrage with the state legalizing marijuana mostly based on it being a cash grab.
The County Executive also spoke to the recent indictment charges handed down against him by Attorney General Letitia James and whether that would pose a distraction as he leads the county into his second term.
“We’re certainly gonna address it, not in the media but in court,” McLaughlin said.
“It’s something that we’re gonna be fine. We’re gonna work our way through it in the court system like every other American citizen and we’re gonna continue to govern the county,” McLaughlin added.