POUGHKEEPSIE – The Dutchess County Legislature unanimously approved its contribution to the Dutchess Community College budget for the 2019/20 academic year. The roughly $16.8 million county contribution represents about one-quarter of the overall $64.6 million budget.
College President Dr. Pamela Edington said there is a solid return on investment for the county.
“There is extensive evidence that the investment in a college education yields an extremely strong return on investment for both the individual student and the community in which they live,” Edington said. “Local government income from property sales and income taxes rises sharply as household education increases.”
While the vote was unanimous, a few legislators had reservations.
Democrat Rebecca Edwards said the budget comes with some unfortunate cost.
“So we have seven layoffs at Dutchess Community College. We have 11 positions that have been frozen. Those are jobs that will not be filed and will be left empty and someone else will have that work and we won’t have the benefit of that job in Dutchess County. And we had 20 faculty members at DCC who were denied the opportunity to come up for promotion.”
Edwards found it ironic that this comes a month after some county employees received 12 percent raises.
Another Democrat, Giancarlo Llaverias, was upbeat about the budget.
“I do see a lot more students, a lot more feedback from students, a friend of mine who go there now who say that Dutchess Community College has been an asset to their lives, that even they don’t pursue a four-year degree, you know, they go and get their associates and go into a trade,” Llaverias said.
Republican Joseph Incoronato praised the spending plan for coming in about $1 million under the 2018-19 budget and yet includes money for a new aeronautical curriculum at the Hudson Valley Regional Airport in Wappinger.
Despite the smaller budget, resident student tuition will go up from $3,864 this academic year to $4,150 for the 2019-20 year. That is still the lowest among Hudson Valley colleges that have reported their new budgets.
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