The recent budget crisis is a clear example of where leadership counts. "As your County Legislator, I will ensure that we have a forensic external audit of the county’s budgets."
As a Mahopac tax payer Tony has taken the lead role, over the past three years, in turning concern into action regarding the local school budgets. Through his email campaign initiative and persistent interrogation of the School Board and Administration on matters of waste and excess, as well as the efforts of other concerned citizens, they were able to accomplish tighter accountability and fiscal responsibility for the 2007-2008 budget than any other year in recent history. This effort, despite its unpopularity, became the focal point of a polarizing feud in our community. In the end, it was the right thing to do and an external audit proved that to be the case. This type of proactive, “out-of-the-box” thinking is exactly the dynamic experience Tony will bring to the county legislature.
As a business owner for more than 17 years, Tony will utilize his experience to begin running Putnam County as a fiscally responsible government entity while lobbying the state of New York to begin funding their unfunded mandates.
In the March 14, 2007 “State of the County” address entitled “The People Want Change”, the County Executive is quoted as saying the taxpayers of Putnam “….expect better. And they deserve it.”
He said, “Last November, we witnessed a revolution on Election Day. We saw several new candidates swept into office by voters who were quite vocal in their message: ‘We want change,’ they said. They said it in interviews. They said it in poll numbers and, most importantly, they said it with their votes. The people showed, quite fiercely, that they are tired of “business-as-usual” government; that they expect more from us. In fact, they don’t just expect more, they expect better.”
Remember that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting a different result. On September 18th, 2007 let’s put an end to the insanity. Vote for a fresh face. Vote for change. Vote for a better Putnam. Vote Tony Fusco.
