Molinaro: “I think Dutchess should be proud”
POUGHKEEPSIE – Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro unveiled his proposed 2019 county budget on Monday and it contains a 2.6 percent reduction in the county property tax rate. The proposed $502 million spending plan, according to Molinaro accounts for 12 percent of the average homeowner’s tax bill, the remainder of which is 23 percent for local (municipal) taxes and 65 percent going to the school districts.
Molinaro’s proposed budget is the fifth consecutive plan that calls for a county tax cut. The total county property tax levy for 2019 is over $106.3 million.
“I think Dutchess should be proud,” Molinaro said. “We have had 12 consecutive months of job creation; we have had economic growth, which has enabled us to provide services for families, small businesses, farmers and community members.”
Republican Legislature Chairman Gregg Pulver was happy to hear about the tax reductions.
“It’s now up to the legislature to make sure that we understand where the money’s actually going, where it’s spent and see if we have any concerns,” Pulver said. “I don’t see huge changes in the budget coming from us. It’s all about the tax dollars.”
Democratic Minority Leader Hannah Black of Hyde Park said a lot of Molinaro said Monday was in his state of the county address earlier this year,
“I anticipated a lot of these commitments to continue,” Black said. “A lot of it is about sustaining what we already have. We are going to be going through it line by line and seeing if there is more that we can provide.”
Molinaro said that sales tax revenue is tracking to finish 2018 with a five percent increase over 2017 and the new budget contains a 3.5 percent estimated growth for 2019. The hotel tax, also known as the pillow tax, is projected to grow six percent over 2018 with credit going to the continued increase in tourism. “Tourism continues to see exciting growth,” said Molinaro as he told the audience that tourism has seen eight years of increased visitor spending, totaling over $600 million in revenues. Molinaro’s budget includes an increased investment of eight percent, equal to $120,000.
State mandates continue to be the target of the Republican gubernatorial candidate. He said 70 percent of every county tax dollar is the result of state mandates including $41.3 million towards Medicaid, $13.3 million to Children’s Services and $11.4 million in pre-school, special education and early intervention programs.
“New York State shifts more spending onto local property taxpayers than any state in America so 70 percent of the budget I just presented is really dictated by Albany and what that means is 70 percent of the property tax levy and 70-cents of every property tax dollar we collect goes to support some state programs that in other states, the state government pays for,” the county executive said.
In dealing with the mandates Molinaro said “we minimize the mandates to the extent we can, we maximize the delivery of other services and we’re still able to provide tax relief”.
Molinaro introduced a shared services plan, known as the Municipal Innovation Grant program seven years ago, years before Governor Cuomo required local governments to participate will receive a million dollars of funding from Molinaro in his budget. It encourages towns, cities and villages in Dutchess to collaborate on methods to work together to save money for the taxpayers. When asked how Cuomo has placed statewide requirements on it, he said “only in New York would you have a governor who suggests that that the way to get people to cooperate is to demand that they cooperate. Dutchess County municipalities have been sharing services and collaborating for years. We’ve led the state in shared services. My budget continues that effort with another million dollars in shared services partnerships.” Molinaro has also proposed a county “purchasing agent” to take on purchasing responsibilities for some municipalities in an effort to provide better purchasing power.
Representing the City of Poughkeepsie at the address was City Administrator Marc Nelson who was “particularly impressed” with Molinaro’s commitment to the Municipal Innovation Grant program. “The county executive and legislature have done a lot for the city of Poughkeepsie,” Nelson said. “Not just with our transit consolidation (city buses) but with their commitment to big, big problems in the city like housing and drug addiction and they do this all while staying under the tax cap.”
