POUGHKEEPSIE – The Democratic members of the Dutchess County Legislature voted against a plan that included funding for body cameras for the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, a youth center, and other long-term projects included in the 2021 Capital Improvement Plan.
The anticipated joint venture for a youth center with the City of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, and other stakeholders is included in the plan that was approved by the Republican majority while the Democratic caucus railed against it because the plan also included funding to continue the construction of the new jail. “The high cost of the new jail—the county’s largest-ever capital project—forces the county to cut other projects or run up unprecedented debt,” said Minority Leader Rebecca Edwards.
Legislator Giancarlo Llaverias criticized the slowness with which the county has moved toward building a youth center in Poughkeepsie, originally pledged in 2016, while voting against moving the youth center forward. “They are prioritizing locking people in cells,” he said, “rather than community programs that could help keep us out.”
Barrington Atkins, the lawmaker who represents the City of Poughkeepsie, also voted against the youth center funding. Both men have repeatedly called for the center to be built in order to provide youth programming. Neither Llaverias nor Atkins responded to requests seeking comment on their vote against the plan.
Legislator Craig Brendli (Poughkeepsie) said, “I fully support many strong projects such as the proposed Poughkeepsie youth center, but the capital plan needs more details, fuller numbers, and clearer priorities. Without this, we risk out-of-control debt service and a possibility that good projects, which our constituents want, never come to fruition.”
“The 2021 Capital Improvement Plan is a forecast of projects that the county is planning,” said the legislature’s Budget and Finance Committee Chairman, Will Truitt. The plan can be reviewed here.
