Mark Trabucco has announced his candidacy for Tioga County 
Legislator. Trabucco, a village resident for 27 years, is recently retired from Joe Trabucco Chevrolet. An active Owego Kiwanian, he says he became interested and concerned with issues critical to the village and the county through his involvement as a founding member of the ORBC (Owego Revitalization and Betterment Corp.), a group funded by the Tioga County REAP. According to Trabucco, "At the early meetings of the group, it became evident that the Legislature's desire to locate county services outside downtown would have the opposite effect of the stated goal - to refresh and re-invigorate the Village of Owego. The recent revelation that the project would cost over $27 million is the most easily-grasped of the diverse arguments against the plan.

 "The ill-conceived consolidation is symptomatic of the other main complaint one hears repeated about the conduct of the current legislature. They don't listen. This was demonstrated at the semi-annual evening meeting when it was announced that the usual practice of giving taxpayers five minutes to comment (never responded to, by the way), was cut to two minutes."

 Another issue which rankles Trabucco is that of the newly-formed office of county manager. "At the public meeting on this issue the public was nearly unanimous that this extra layer of government was unwanted and unnecessary. We were assured that the ‘studies' justified the position and it would cost no more than $40,000 to $60,000 a year. This year the budget for this office is over $123,000."

 "Among other issues needing attention are the types of businesses we wish to attract in the county," said Trabucco. "We need new businesses and residents to increase and diversify our tax base, but we must be careful that we don't "give away the store," or substantially change the qualities that make Tioga County liveable, things like clean air and water."

 Mark Trabucco is endorsed by the Tioga County democratic Party and by Concerned Citizens of Tioga County.