Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi
JAMESTOWN – Governor Andrew Cuomo was “spot on” in addressing the key issues of 2014 in his recent State of the State address, delivered last week in Albany. That’s according to Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi, who on Friday welcomed Regional Economic Development Director Sam Hoyt to the city to personally delivered the governor’s state of the state address.
Teresi said the speech did a good job of not only looking toward the future, but also outlining the successes of the recent past. “I think that he was spot on in a variety of categories. Number on – in his assessment of just how far we have come as a state over the past few years, but also an acknowledgement that the show’s not over. That as far as we’ve come, there’s just as far that we need to go. That’s why I was heartened first of all by the speech and second fof all, by many of the priorities that he laid out in the speech.”
Teresi also said that when it comes to improving the economy of New York, it needs to begin at the local level and that is something Gov. Cuomo emphasized in his address. “The governor made it clear that he understands that making ourselves stronger and better and the local level is going to involve the the effort and the support of the state – both by incentivising consolation of services, streamlining of services, and sharing of services but also the state getting involved and knocking down some of the hurdles and barriers that, quite frankly, keep us at the local level from doing more things together.”
The governor specifically addressed the need to assist local governments, saying that wants to introduce a program that would freeze property tax levels for any local government that proves it has looked at various consolidation and cost saving measures. Teresi said that while he believes Jamestown can continue to work toward those goals, he’s also hoping the state will take into consideration the dozens of cost-saving measures that have already been put into place during the past 14 years of his administration.
“I can’t speak for the governor but I think out of fairness you have to look at all the things that we have done and that we are working on now and the ground that’s still before us that we can be moving forward on,” Teresi said. “The spirit is here, the track record certainly is here and I don’t see any problem with us developing that level of confidence with the state, so that we’ll be able to meet both conditions and bring that incentive back for our overburdened property tax payers.”
Teresi also said he was also pleased to see the governor touch on the need to continue to improve quality of life for residents throughout the state, as well as address various social issues, including the need for improving education throughout the state.
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