POUGHKEEPSIE – The Dutchess County Legislature approved the 2022 county budget Thursday evening. In a meeting that saw several last-minute failed attempts at amendments by Democrat lawmakers, the spending plan of more than $500 million was approved with one Democrat, Randy Johnson, joining the GOP majority voting in favor of it.
“There are a lot of good programs for Poughkeepsie in this budget. I fought for those programs and that is why I voted for the budget,” said Legislator Johnson.
Democrat Giancarlo Llaverias, who represents part of the Town of Poughkeepsie, voted against the Capital Projects Plan and the budget. “In my tenure on the legislature I have noticed that many of our major projects are drastically underestimated as far as costs, so I voted against the Capital Projects Plan. As for the budget, the county is improving the delivery of mental health services but making only small adjustments is like putting a bandage on an issue that needs surgery.”
Addressing the failed Democratic amendments, Legislature Chairman Gregg Pulver, reiterated his recent frustration at the lack of participation by the Democrats, “It’s a shame that legislators that didn’t show up for committee meetings and involve themselves in the process, decide at the 11’th hour to make amendments, without any background information.” His comments were made moments after lawmakers paused for their second caucus of the night.
“If we had this talk a month ago, we could probably find a lot more common ground,” he said.
County Executive Marc Molinaro noted that the budget includes the largest property tax decrease in county history and eliminates the sales tax on clothing and footwear items up to $110.
Several amendments were made to Molinaro’s proposed county budget to further increase grant program funding, including not-for-profit infrastructure projects, Fire and Safety equipment for local emergency services as well as the “Learn, Play, Create: Supporting Our Kids” grant program.
The budget, with amendments, will now be forwarded to Molinaro for review and signature. The final step in the 2022 Dutchess County Budget process is override consideration of any amendment vetoes by the County Executive and the adoption of the tax levy – will be on Monday, Dec. 13th at the Dutchess County Legislature’s Board meeting.
