POUGHKEEPSIE – Dutchess County is expected to receive $57.5 million over a two-year period from the American Rescue Plan recently signed into law.
County Comptroller Robin Lois said the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to cost the county $13 million in lost funds across all sources of tax revenue. The largest hit was in sales tax revenue which declined $11 million, a 5.2 percent decrease from anticipated revenues in the 2020 adopted county budget, she said.
“I think the $57 million will go a really long way. It will definitely cover our losses, it will cover our expenses and it will give us an opportunity to spend that money going forward to rebuild,” she said. “We are only going to get half that money this year to cover the current expenses and then we get the next half of it next year and by then I am hoping that the county administration will have plan for what we are going to use that money for.”
Lois said Dutchess was “fortunately in a strong fiscal position prior to the pandemic hitting our community, which has helped us to sustain and maintain our crucial services to the public.”
