Trailing in every issue category in a YNN/Siena College Albany mayoral poll, Corey Ellis plans to fight the political fire burning on the economic front with water — and a few fish.

On Thursday, he repeated his call for a state-of-the-art aquarium on Broadway at Hudson Avenue. Ellis said he envisions an aquarium, when coupled with new riverfront business, that would be the tourist destination downtown needs to lift Albany from depths of being the 13th on Conde Nast Traveler's list of the world's least friendly cities. Ellis' plan to reel in his multimillion-dollar vision is to let someone else actually build it. Ellis envisions a private investor, assuming there is a partnership with the city and the state, being the builder.

"I'm calling for it as the future leader of the city to drive interest," the Democrat said.

Ellis said it would take tens of millions of dollars to build the aquarium, though he didn't have hard figures. Instead, he said a study would be done to determine that amount. He didn't specify if the study would be private or done by the city.

"What we don't want is to get caught up in 'what Corey Ellis thinks it will cost,' " he said.

In the race for the Democratic nomination, the poll puts Ellis far behind Kathy Sheehan for "managing economic development" by 50-19 percent.

Still, Ellis claims he is the one with a vision in this category.

"I'm the candidate putting out ideas and plans for the city," he said.

With an ocean of percentage points between him and Sheehan, Ellis said he's not worried since he's fought an uphill battle since he was born.

Which county is that?

Two words no candidate wants to hear are "fatal flaw" after turning in nominating petitions.

For Troy Democrat Jack B. Cox Jr., it was one word left out nine times on the papers voters signed supporting his campaign for the City Council's 2nd District seat.

The missing word on the petitions filed with the county Board of Elections? Rensselaer.

That knocked him off what would have been a primary ballot featuring himself and the party's endorsed candidate, Anastasia Robertson.

Last week, he vowed to run a write-in campaign in the general election. Republican Kimberly A. Mazor is the Republican candidate.

Decimal point math

The dry world of municipal finance puts many people to sleep. But Albany County Comptroller Mike Conners relishes every last number stretching pass the decimal point in the interest rates.

Take the $22,800,000 borrowed for the purchase of the county's Family Court building on Clinton Avenue.

Most of the $37,054,320 bond sold Thursday by Conners' office was consumed by the refinancing of the courthouse, which Conners called a financial headache for County Executive Dan McCoy and the county Legislature.

"Despite us having overpaid for the building, we were able to bring in the cost of borrowing in at a good rate," Conners said.

The county will pay an interest rate of 3.3244953 on the bond. Jefferies LLC offered the lowest of eight bids submitted.

The county will end up paying $10,398,896.47 over the 15-year life of the bond.

Given Detroit's bankruptcy and worries about bond rates rising, Conners said it was a good time to secure the refinancing.

Saratoga primary

Two Saratoga Springs Republicans have forced a Sept. 10 vote for the Independence Party line on the November ballot.

Mayoral candidate Shauna Sutton and John Arpei, who is running for accounts commissioner, collected enough signatures from Independence Party members to challenge Democrats Joanne Yepsen and John Franck for the party's nominations.

"It was very important that we give Independence Party voters a choice," said Sutton, who is deputy mayor.

The Yepsen camp replied, "We welcome the opportunity to bring our message to the voters of Saratoga Springs."

Saratoga County Independence Party Chairman Ed Miller announced the party's support for Yepsen and Franck in May, so their names will appear on the primary ballot. By collecting signatures from more than 5 percent of the party's members in the city, Sutton and Arpei successfully petitioned for blank spots on the ballot for voters to write in their names.

There are 6,649 Republicans in the city; 5,935 Democrats; 3,943 unaffiliated voters; 1,157 enrolled in Independence Party and smaller numbers in other parties.

In 2011, Mayor Scott Johnson defeated Democratic Brent Wilkes by just 291 votes with the help of the Independence line.

Matthew Hamilton, Kenneth C. Crowe II and Dennis Yusko contributed. Jordan Carleo-Evangelist returns next week.