Spa City Mayor Scott Johnson delivers his annual State of the City address on Sunday at the City Center. Our C.J. Spang was there and has details.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- While admitting the Spa City is better off than most cities, in his State of the City address, Mayor Scott Johnson said there are challenges facing Saratoga Springs and the community needs to come together to tackle them.

"To meet the challenges, the best way to do that is together," said Johnson. "And that was the basic point of my speech was cooperation, planning for the future and leave the politics outside."

"The mayor brought up controlling our spending because revenues are what they are. Overall I thought it was a pretty good address," said accounts commissioner John Franck. "I was a little disappointed relating to the housing authority because there are a lot of issues going on there. But maybe cause they're ongoing, the mayor didn't touch on them."

Johnson's speech largely focused on the city's financial challenges. Getting a guarantee from the state that the city will continue receiving it's share of VLT money, reigning in the city's labor costs and the necessity of a strong racing industry. The mayor expressed concerns about the effects full casino gaming could have on racing and the Spa City.

"As Saratoga, a racing community, fully dependent on the success of racing across the state, I have to be very careful on behalf of my community and get people involved to speak out to our representatives to make sure we say, whatever happens with casino gambling, it does not adversely impact New York horse racing," he said.

"We'll take guidance from them of what's in the best interest for racing in New York State, the most historic track in racing which is here in Saratoga and the city of Saratoga," said Assemblyman James Tedisco "But it's of supreme importance that it doesn't affect racing and that race track in a negative way."

Mayor Johnson was optimistic in his speech, pointing out that financially speaking, the Spa City is trending upward.