Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano delivers State of the County address as she prepares for reelection campaign. Delmarva Public Media's Don Rush has this report.
RUSH: Wicomico County executive Julie Giordano delivered her state of the county address this week, the last before she dives into a reelection bid. This is Don Rush. As she goes into campaign mode, Giordano declared.
GIORDANO: I am proud to stand before you today and say with confidence that Wicomico County stands stronger, more financially stable, and more strategically positioned for long-term success than any other point in recent memory, and that is something worth celebrating.
RUSH: The county executive was flanked by an array of department heads and Sheriff Mike Lewis at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center. Giordano boasted about achievements ranging from reducing workforce turnover and fully funding local education requests without breaking the revenue cap to the county's AA financial rating. We caught up with her after the nearly two hour presentation, beginning with what she saw as her accomplishments.
GIORDANO: I would just say that the investments that we've made and specific departments, I mentioned public safety we're a fully funding educational ask, which was a tough feat, but we got there and just what we're putting into the county, we're really trying to reinvest every dollar back to make sure the taxpayers are getting the best bang for their buck.
RUSH: In terms of education, what are you for? I know you've at times said, maybe we should break the cap in order to get more funding.
GIORDANO: Well, I just see that, I think that there's going to be more state mandates that are coming down. We're still trying to sort of work through that. We've had a couple of challenges across the way, teacher pensions and things like that. So I do see the county being a little bit more responsible for what's going on with education holistically, but I'm really hoping we're able to move forward. I was really happy to be able to fully fund their ask. So going above maintenance of effort, it's about 1.7 million with that and a little bit of help from the general assembly, reinstating about 500,000 to our disparity grant. We were able to fully fund it. We really do feel it is important to invest in our education system.
RUSH: Do you see [the executives] breaking the cap at all or...
GIORDANO: Not this year. Not this year. So it wouldn't be something that we visited this year, and I'm actually really happy that we didn't even have to have that discussion.
RUSH: Looking ahead, what do you see as the major challenges for the county?
GIORDANO: I would probably say again, the state mandates. The state, I think, and I say irresponsibility, there's just a lot of things going on at the state, and I think that their answer a lot is pushing things down on the county. I will say, due to our fiscal budgeting that we're able to handle some of that, but I don't know how sustainable that is.
RUSH: How do you see the campaign going on? Obviously this is not part of the campaign, but nonetheless...
GIORDANO: I hope really well. I mean, I really wanted people to see the great things that are going on in Wicomico County, and it's not just about me. It's about all of these department heads think that there's a lot of positivity going on, and I hope that even though there have probably been things that I would've done differently along the way, I hope that I've earned the trust of the citizens here to understand that we are doing great things and the politics set aside, just look at the accomplishments with everything going on.
RUSH: What do you think you would've done differently?
GIORDANO: Well, just decisions that are made. I probably would've done differently. I don't really want to go into that right now. I don't want to reflect on it because, do I regret the decisions? Not necessarily because they sort of shaped what we're doing for the future. Probably would've handled things a little bit differently, may have done decisions on funding this a little bit differently or whatever. But yeah, I mean, I think that we have grown holistically. I have a really great team behind me. I feel very confident in everything that they're doing. I think that's all I'm going to say though on that part.
RUSH: In terms of the county council, how do you see that going forward? Obviously we're going to have some major changes in the election.
GIORDANO: Yes, I'm very excited. I look forward to a new group of individuals. I have my heart set on a certain group. Of course, I will be pushing them hopefully across the finish line, but I will be happy to see a new group of individuals and I think the old guard was still there kind of with mine and having a whole new guard I think will really be a benefit to the county. I appreciate the old guard and everything that they've done and accomplished throughout the years, but I think it'll be a really nice breath of fresh air.
RUSH: Wicomico County executive Julie Giordano, who delivered her last state of the county address before her reelection bid. This is Don Rush for Delmarva Public Media.
