Nassau County Legislator Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) told members of the press on Monday that she believed County Executive Thomas Gulotta's State of the County Address may have been very moving, with its references to several county resident heroes, but it lacked initiatives and solutions to the county budget woes.

"There has never been any doubt in my mind that the citizens of Nassau County are heroes, however, we need a hero in Nassau County government to repair a budget that has been so totally destroyed over the years," Legislator Jacobs said. "People were waiting to hear solutions, but that was not evident in his speech."

According to Legislator Jacobs, the county executive's proposals fall far short of the real solutions needed.

"This county is plagued by one-shot revenue deals, an FBI investigation targeted at the employees health insurance program and a federal investigation of conditions at the Nassau County jail," Legislator Jacobs said. "We need more than Band-Aid solutions."

Legislator Jacobs was joined at a press conference by Minority Leader Bruce Nyman (D-Long Beach) and fellow legislators Lisanne Altmann (D-Great Neck), Roger Corbin (D-Westbury) and Barbara Johnson (D-Port Washington).

"The Republican County government has covered us in red ink," Minority Leader Nyman said. "Whether we look at the mountain of debt, the scandals of mismanagement, other important tasks that remain undone, we see trouble ... both at the doorstep and the horizon. In light of the abundance of its resources, the quality of its workforce, and the richness of its history, Nassau County Government should be first in its class. Instead, Republican County Government is last. At a time when debates in Washington and Albany center around how best to deal with surpluses, the debate in Mineola is how best to dig out from a $200 million dollar deficit."

Democrats cited that many of Gulotta's good news press releases about the county's medical center, the Public Benefit Corporation, the HUB, the New York Islanders, the tentaive Plainview land sale and the Veteran's Memorial Coliseum are not giving an accurate picture.

"These issues are still uncertain and unresolved," Legislator Jacobs said.

Several initiatives proposed by the Democrats include hiring an outside fiscal monitoring agency; streamlining and consolidating government and putting safeguards in place to avoid future false revenue sources, such as the employee health insurance program.