POUGHKEEPSIE – A report issued by New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli indicated that the City of Poughkeepsie was in “significant fiscal stress” at the end of the 2021 fiscal year. Poughkeepsie is the only municipality in the state with that designation. The report sparked a war of words between Mayor Rob Rolison’s senate campaign and his Democratic opponent Julie Shiroishi.
Rolison, facing an end to his tenure as mayor because of term limits, is the Republican candidate for the state senate in the 39th Senate District. Shiroishi of Beacon, is running for office for the first time.
She issued a statement after the report was released on Tuesday placing the blame on the city’s financial stress on Rolison.
“Immediately upon entering office, Rolison proposed a 16.5 percent increase in city property taxes which the common council ultimately reduced to 12.7 percent,” Shiroishi said. “Yet, after seven years as mayor, a double-digit tax hike, and an infusion of $20 million from President Biden’s federal COVID aid, under Rolison Poughkeepsie’s finances are as bad as ever.”
When Rolison took office in 2016, the city’s finances were in a state of crisis. Rolison took the reigns of a city that had a general fund deficit of $13.2 million. Over the course of five years, the deficit has been reduced by approximately $10 million resulting in a deficit of approximately $2.8 million.
Despite the deficit reduction during Rolison’s tenure, Shiroishi also said of Rolison, “He likes to brag that he’s ‘turned the city around … [and] has been a champion for fiscal discipline, but the facts show how badly taxpayers are suffering under his mismanagement.”
Rolison campaign advisor Lynn Krogh rebuked Shiroishi’s comments. “Everyone knows Rob Rolison inherited a mess and a city on the brink of economic disaster,” she said. “Because of his leadership, Poughkeepsie is stronger and better than it’s been in decades. His record speaks for itself: reducing the city deficit by more than $10 million and stabilizing the city bond rating.” She also called Shiroishi’s attack “A sad and desperate attempt by Ms. Shiroishi to rewrite history and deflect her own abysmal record of making New York weaker and less safe.”
Shiroishi served as chief of staff for Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson before resigning to focus on her own campaign. The Democrat had also been the chairwoman of the Dutchess County Democratic Committee until leaving that post recently to run for the Senate.
Krogh pointed a finger of her own, saying, “The biggest challenges faced by the city are the poor decisions and policies coming from Albany. As a top aide to a member of the state legislature, Ms. Shiroishi
