POUGHKEEPSIE – Mayor Robert Rolison has lashed out at members of the Poughkeepsie Common Council for not voting to transfer the city’s eight buses to Dutchess County now that the county has absorbed the city system.
As a result, the city will have to pay the federal government some $1.6 million since Washington paid the lion’s share of the cost of the buses and they are no longer used.
Rolison said with the city still in a deficit situation, it will not be able to pay back the funds.
“Where are we getting the money and why would you even want to put the city in this kind of position? We don’t have the ability to pay that money even if we wanted to. We have no fund balance. We are $12.5 million upside down,” the mayor said. “These types of positions made by certain members of the council are just unconscionable.”
Rolison also criticized Council Members Christopher Petsas and Ann Perry for abstaining on the transfer vote. He questioned why they are on the council in the first place if they abstained from a critical vote.
Poughkeepsie recently received a $3 million special grant from Albany, but the mayor said it cannot be used to pay Washington back as it is earmarked for economic development purposes.
Sullivan County resident Zita Speer turns 103
April 14, 2024
