ALBANY COUNTY — Mary Lou Connolly, a Democrat, has been the County Legislator in the 32nd District for 23 years and says she has made countless contributions to the community in that time.

She is being challenged by Paul Miller, also from Guilderland.

She chaired the health committee for 20 years and Social Services for two years; she has served on the board of the Guilderland Chamber of Commerce and received its Chamber Champion award; she received a community leadership award from the Albany County Airport Professional Firefighters; she received the Guilderland Democratic Committee’s Virginia Horan Community Service Award; and, she said, she’s volunteered for as long as she can remember with Equinox, the Hope House, the county’s nursing home, and Arbor Hill Men’s Association.

“If all Mr. Miller has to be concerned about are some small campaign finance issues, then he is digging deep,” said Connolly, who owns her own insurance company, in response to her opponent’s allegations that she is not transparent about her finances.

Miller said Connolly had not filed her 32-day pre-primary financial disclosure report. Connolly told The Enterprise this week that she had been unable to access the website to file the report because she did not have the new password, but, she said, she went to the New York State Board of Elections Office in person to make sure it was straightened out.

The Board of Elections website does reflect that Connolly has filed the 32-day pre-primary report as well as an 11-day pre-primary report. Her contributions over the last year amount to slightly more than $4,000, and her expenditures are just under $1,500.

Connolly said she did have a debit that was not credited and her account did not balance out, and, again, she said she dealt directly with the Board of Elections to fix it.

County Executive Daniel McCoy helped her pay for a mailer, she said.

“We are nickel and diming here when there are much bigger issues,” she said.

“Guilderland is one of the hotbeds of heroin use, unfortunately,” said Connolly, which is why Sheriff Craig Apple focused on making the Guilderland Police Department the first in the county to be trained to use Narcan kits and to carry them.

The county’s Department of Health, she said, is instituting educational programs for youth about the dangers of heroin use.

“It is a disease of all classes; there are no borders,” she said.

Educational programs should also be instituted in Albany County’s jail, she said.

“So many people think ‘I’m not going to die from this,’ but how many mothers tragedies have there been in our own communities?” she asked.

Connolly also thinks she state should “step up” and open more rehabilitation facilities rather then sending offenders directly to jail.

She said the county has been working on consolidating services since before she was elected 15 in 1992.

“The Department of Public Works is working with the state and towns so the plows aren’t skipping roads and that’s going to save a lot of money,” she said.

The 9-1-1 system was successfully consolidated, she said, so that each call goes to a central hub in the county and is then funneled through to the appropriate municipality.

“That’s been a great example of how consolidation has worked,” said Connolly.

The county is attempting something similar with other services, including health and senior services, so that people who need help can call one number rather than going through a phone tree, or go to one location, rather than visiting several.

In terms of eliminating buildings that may be redundant, such as highway facilities or garages, Connolly said she did not think it would work, because of all the equipment involved.

“Logistically, it wouldn’t make sense,” she said.

Albany County has, during her tenure, managed to cut back on jobs while still providing the same level of services, she said.

The county needs to bring services into communities where suburban and rural poverty is prevalent she said.

As the chairwoman of the health committee, Connolly said she brought immunization clinics to places where people may not have access to them otherwise.

As another example, she said, there is a dental clinic in downtown Albany, and that type of service could be brought into suburban areas.

“I think school health officials need to work closely with the nursing staff in the Albany County Health Department to communicate needs,” she said. “We respond.”

Connolly said she is the only legislator who has worked directly with the staff of the health department out in the field doing clinics.

“I am very proud to have supported Soldier On since day one,” said Connolly.

The county will turn over the Ann Lee Home, the county’s former nursing home, to become a facility for veterans in need of services.

The home just passed its State Environmental Quality Review, she said.

“It will provide rehabilitation and give them a new home of their own,” said Connolly of veterans. “It will give them back their pride.”

Connolly defended her support for privatizing the nursing home, backing McCoy while most Democrats in the legislature did not.

“My only goal — and it had been for years — was to keep the Albany County Nursing Home open,” she said. “I didn’t know how we would do it and privatizing was an option.”

She said she drove to Syracuse with McCoy to visit a facility run by the group McCoy was recommending for the takeover, and said it appeared to be an excellent operation.

But, she said, “finally” the legislators were able to sit down and come to an agreement to hire a new executive to oversee the nursing home.

“I supported this,” she said.

Connolly’s husband spent more than 100 days in the county’s nursing home after suffering from a bad fall last year.

“Do you think for one second that I would have insisted by husband go there if I didn’t think it was the best place in Albany County for rehabilitation?” she asked. “He spent his days there with the best staff to be found anywhere.”

The county held its second annual “Summit on Aging” this week and Connolly said the key issue was being able to offer services to individuals to help them stay in their homes.

The state announced a $750,000 grant to make homes accessible to people with handicaps and the county chipped in an extra $250,000.

“Over the next four years, I will continue to push for more and more services,” said Connolly.

She said the minimum wage should be increased statewide and should reach $15 before 2021.

“It is very sad that people work so hard and can’t earn enough to survive,” she said.

She told a story of a young woman who works two jobs and has a daughter with health problems but makes $20 too much to qualify for subsidies. The woman was evicted from an apartment and sought help to obtain a new apartment, but was turned down on the basis that she made “too much money.”

“That should never happen to anyone,” said Connolly. “Individuals lose their dignity just asking for help and then to be turned down is a disgrace.”

Connolly said her campaign slogan is “Mary Lou works for you.”

“I roll my sleeves up and I get the job done,” she said.