CARMEL – Putnam County may very well have the shortest budget approval cycle in the Hudson Valley.
Each year the county executive proposes her spending plan for the following year and within just a few weeks, the county legislature approves it, sometimes with some modifications.
That was the case again this year as lawmakers have just approved the $165.1 million budget after making some minor changes.
Chairman Joseph Castellano called it “an outstanding budget.”
With the county’s Aa1 bond rating, “Going forward we can save some money when we borrow.” He credited the “hard work done by county employees.”
Legislators held a few items in contingency, namely $15,000 for maintenance in parks and recreation, $30,000 for special services in the district attorney’s office, $15,000 for license plate readers for the sheriff’s office, and almost $18,000 for a promotion to sergeant.
The legislature held the sheriff’s office to a two percent increase in overtime, agreeing to fund $520.000 in overtime, an increase of $12,000 in 2019 departmental spending, but $242,000 less than what the department sought.
