Executive Marc Molinaro presented Dutchess County lawmakers and residents his plans for 2012, saying that expectations of county government must be reset in light of the struggling economy. Our John Wagner has the details.

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DUTCHESS COUNTY, N.Y. -- Due to unfunded state mandates, a property tax cap, and a struggling economy, Executive Marc Molinaro says Dutchess County is facing three devastating options.

"Begin to sort of deconstruct and cut major county programs and services that residents wish and hope for, raise taxes which we don't want to do, and the use of fund balance," said Molinaro. "The 2012 budget used the fund balance so we're facing some very difficult decision making, but we're going to confront those challenges as a team."

The executive spent his first month in office working on a blueprint for boosting the county's future. Much of it depends on finding ways to cut costs before the 2013 budget and zeroing in on old issues that have remained untouched and now sit at crossroads like solid waste and the county jail. Molinaro also plans to join hands with residents for ideas --and accountability.

"These issues are not new, they've been around for the last two to four to ten to twenty years," said John Forman, a Republican county legislator. "We have a county executive who's ready to tackle them, to hit them head on."

"We're going to do it in a fair way, we're going to do it logically," explained Molinaro. "We're going to include people, we're going to make sure we explain our decision making."

The mountain will be high, with the tax base decreasing by six and a half billion since 2008, and an initial 2013 budget gap set at $24 million. But both sides of the political aisle believe they are ready to climb.

"He is calling everyone to the table; he is making us all part of it, because we are all responsible," said Democrat Allison MacAvery, the assistant minority leader in the Dutchess legislature. "It's a challenge that I think we're all up for."

"I have no allusions about the task at hand, but we can do that," said Republican Robert Rollison, the legislature's Republican majority leader. "This county is positioned to be successful, we're just going to have to work together to get there."