2021 Newsletter Articles & Survey
Below are 6 short articles I've written regarding the state of Broome County in April 2021. I hope you'll read them and answer the survey at the bottom of the page.
Thank Goodness 2020 is Over!
I don’t know if you remember, but 2020 actually started out great. Broome County businesses were humming along, unemployment was falling, and your county government was quietly building its rainy day funds.
Then we hit the COVID wall! Ever since early March 2020, we’ve all been in uncharted territory with our lives, our health, our families, our finances, and more.
COVID put thousands of local people out of work, schools were closed, kids were home, people hoarded toilet paper & hand sanitizer, and life ground to a halt. It was truly surreal.
Broome County responded with the longest state of emergency in our 204-year history. County Executive Jason Garnar formed a team at one location and the Deputy County Executive Kevin McManus at another. The Broome County Legislature was forced into a flurry of online meetings and consultations on a scale never seen before.
I don’t know if you remember, but 2020 actually started out great. Broome County businesses were humming along, unemployment was falling, and your county government was quietly building its rainy day funds.
Then we hit the COVID wall! Ever since early March 2020, we’ve all been in uncharted territory with our lives, our health, our families, our finances, and more.
COVID put thousands of local people out of work, schools were closed, kids were home, people hoarded toilet paper & hand sanitizer, and life ground to a halt. It was truly surreal.
Broome County responded with the longest state of emergency in our 204-year history. County Executive Jason Garnar formed a team at one location and the Deputy County Executive Kevin McManus at another. The Broome County Legislature was forced into a flurry of online meetings and consultations on a scale never seen before.
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COVID Response
COVID hit hard. Over 325 people have died — every one a tragic loss. However, for several reasons, statistically-speaking, our numbers are much less than many other places in NY.
Scores of Broome County employees were transferred from their “normal” jobs into contact tracing, information gathering, testing, and PPE logistics. Together, they fielded over 60k phone calls, tested over 12k people, and delivered many tons of PPE to residents, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, etc. Now Broome County has shifted its focus toward vaccination efforts. In fact, Broome County was one of the first counties in the state to open a mass vaccination site. The site, at SUNY-Broome, is capable of vaccinating 2,500 people per day and currently our only bottleneck is obtaining enough vaccine from the state health department to immunize everyone who wants it. |
Fiscal Responsibility
During the early days of the quarantine, many businesses were closed and sales tax took a major hit. Sales tax is a major source of County revenue.
Broome County immediately enacted a hiring freeze, a voluntary furlough program, and a series of additional cost-saving measures. We were very fortunate to have built-up a $14m fund balance over the last few years to help us make it through this challenging time. It’s still too early to say we’re out-of-the-woods, but things are looking promising. |
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Working Together
2020 was one of the most divisive political campaigns ever. If you only watched federal elections, then you’d think that Democrats & Republicans can’t possibly get along.
However, that’s just not true! In fact, I’m happy to report that 2020 was a year of unity for Broome County Government. Faced with unprecedented challenges, your Democrat & Republican Legislators came together and passed more than 500 resolutions in a respectful, unified manner. We did this by focusing on what’s important: our shared community. We didn’t let national issues divide us. We supported our County Executive through the dark days of the early quarantine. When we saw differences arise, we talked at great length and found a way through that we could all agree upon. In short, we respected each other and we put Broome County residents first. I believe this is what your elected officials should be doing for you. So, next time you watch the circus of national-level politicians insulting one another, take heart in the fact that your local government doesn’t act like that. We do our best to work together and bring about tangible results for all of us. |
Voting in a Pandemic
Elections are a lot of work in “normal” years, but since 2020 was a presidential year, it was far more complex. Broome County ran two primaries and a presidential election while adhering to fast-changing, unprecedented pandemic measures, mandated by New York State.
Meanwhile, at the state & national levels, there were a lot of arguments about how to go about running this election. Broome County doesn’t make the voting rules—it follows them. Many places ended-up with vote-counting discrepancies, but not Broome. This is because we stuck to fundamentals, carried out our legal duties, and made sure we counted every vote. Thank you to all the poll workers who took time out of their own lives to help Broome County carry out this most important duty. Please contact me if you’re interested in helping with future elections. |
2021 Survey
Thank you for reading my newsletter. I'd really appreciate it if you could answer some survey questions for me. Your answers will not be shared with anyone else and I won't barrage you with annoying emails.