FAYETTEVILLE -- Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney held her second State of the County address Tuesday evening, where she revealed a new plan of attack for the allocation of federal stimulus money. The long stalled Convention Center Hotel project in Downtown Syracuse is one of the main priorities in her plan. The plan for the hotel across from the Oncenter is an attempt to make Syracuse a destination for people to come visit. Mahoney insists the county is ready to go, and that the developer of the project has added new environmentally friendly elements to make sure it qualifies under the strict federal stimulus guidelines.
Among other important topics in Mahoney's speech are closing the $10.7 million dollar budget deficit and creating a specialized team to ensure that the federal money is used wisely. She also says that the county run Van Duyn nursing home is fully funded this year, although she is considering every option, taking this year to plan the future of the facility.
Mahoney also spoke about the importance of consolidation as the towns of Cicero and Salina talk about merging their assessor offices.
To read the full text of the speech, click on the related link below.
