GOSHEN – The 2022 Orange County budget of $827 million as proposed by County Executive Steven Neuhaus would have used $4.5 million in American rescue plan funds to help balance the spending plan, but county lawmakers have modified that.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Leigh Benton said legislators want to hold onto the full amount from Washington.
“Those monies have yet to be decided how they are going to be spent but we thought it would be better that we keep all of the monies in either the revenue-loss category or the investment in certain infrastructure categories because there are obviously many parts of infrastructure that need improvement in the county,” he said.
Instead, legislators have increased the anticipated sales tax revenue.
The bottom line of the 2022 spending plan will remain the same when it is voted on next week.
