County Administrators and Managers Lead Through COVID and Beyond By Shaun Groden, Greene County Administrator, and President of the New York State County Administrators and Managers Association
I
t’s a little-known fact that when it comes to county governments in New York, there are three distinctly different forms of governance structure:
1. Charter counties with an elected executive or appointed administrative official, 2. Counties with an appointed administrator or manager, and 3. Counties organized under county law operating under the administration of the county legislative body. Most counties—33, in fact—operate with an appointed administrator or manager that manages the overall operations of their county governments. They oversee the day-to-day administration of the county and work closely with the county board chair, the standing committees of the county board, the members of the legislative body, and each county department to ensure coordination of county government. While each county administrator or manager has unique responsibilities based on priorities of their legislative body and needs of their communities, we all have common concerns as well. As our counties approach the close of 2021 and plan for 2022, here are some of the issues that are at the top of our lists.
The COVID-19 Pandemic Throughout the past year and a half our county administrators and managers have worked hard with our local health departments, emergency managers, mental health directors to protect our residents from the novel coronavirus. We worked with our department heads and county employees to ensure that critical programs and services continued to get delivered to the best of our ability through this time, even as the state reduced local aid by 20 percent through the pandemic. We worked closely with our local health department to deploy testing sites, recruit and train contact tracers, and set up vaccination PODs. 56
NYSAC News | Fall 2021
American Rescue Plan The last 18 months have stretched county resources thin. The days have been long and county administrators and managers worked with their elected leaders and departments to ensure essential services were provided to everyone in need. A major priority last year was to work with county elected leadership, state officials and our congressional delegation to ensure special federal COVID assistance was provided to help address direct county public health and safety needs. In addition, it was critically important to work to ensure these federal resources were available to rebuild our local economies as many small and even large businesses struggled to stay open during lockdowns and ongoing restrictions. It took a full year of nonstop advocacy, but we prevailed in securing over $2 billion in direct aid to the counties through the American Rescue Plan. County administrators and managers have been working diligently to ensure these onetime, but transformational federal funds are invested in the most effective way.
County Budget In most cases, county administrators and managers act as the budget officer of the county or provide direct oversight of the budget officer. This includes preparing the budget recommendations for county legislative or supervisor review, adoption and then implementing and managing the budget throughout the year. Budget development requires direct coordination with many county departments to ascertain expected current year revenues and future projections. Property tax forms the core of many counties’ revenue base, with sales tax rising in importance and size, as it is the key local revenue source that can help reduce pressure on property taxes.
