POUGHKEEPSIE … Following the Dutchess County Legislature’s adoption of the 2026 County Budget last week, County Executive Sue Serino has returned the budget unsigned, expressing concern about the County’s fiscal sustainability following the Legislature’s additional $7.2 million draw down from the County’s fund balance for the multiple legislative amendments. The County Executive also line-item vetoed legislative amendments that added positions to the budget without sustainable offsetting revenue.
“The annual budget process is always challenging and difficult choices must be made. The budget plan I presented maintained and enhanced the programs and services our neighbors depend on, while ensuring fiscal stability for what is ahead –increasing state mandates, declining federal support and economic uncertainty – while also limiting the impact on our taxpayers with a property tax rate reduction,” said Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino. “The legislative amendments made to the 2026 budget, while certainly worthy, added new and ongoing expenses while taking millions of additional dollars from our fund balance. Of particular concern were the added positions without a sustainable way to pay for them and therefore I have vetoed the amendments that used one-time revenue to pay for ongoing, recurring costs.”
While the $653.6 million adopted spending plan included all of the essential services and key priority investments from County Executive Serino’s budget plan, including public safety, elder fraud prevention, housing, youth and mental health and more, the additional legislative amendments* increased the overall spending plan by nearly $2.2 million.
The majority of legislative amendments relied heavily on the County’s fund balance, appropriating more than $7.2 million to pay for numerous one-time costs, additional positions and to maintain the sales tax exemption on clothing and footwear items under $110 per item, bringing the total appropriation of fund balance and Community Benefit fund to more than $33.9 million for 2026. County Executive Serino had previously expressed her concerns about how using significant fund balance would lead to many more difficult decisions for the 2027 budget in a memo to the Legislature prior to the budget adoption.
The amendments to add new, recurring positions costs using fund balance, which is a one-time revenue, are particularly problematic. In the development of the Executive budget proposal, County Executive Serino and the Budget Office worked closely with Executive Department Heads as well as elected officials to figure out how to control position costs while still achieving key priorities without layoffs. With creative cost cuts and shared sacrifice, the Executive Budget included the deletion of 10 vacant positions and an additional 17.5 positions were held vacant for the year across various departments. Legislative amendments, however, added five positions to the District Attorney’s Office, including positions slated to be held vacant, at a cost of more than $711,000.
County Executive Serino line-item vetoed three of the five positions, citing lack of a sustainable revenue source in her veto message to the Legislature. The remaining two positions, a Junior Accountant and an Assistant District Attorney, could be offset by the increase in property tax revenue that the Legislature amended.
The adopted budget does keep the property tax levy under New York State’s property tax cap as County Executive Serino crafted in the Executive Budget, with the property tax rate reduced from $2.17 to $2.10 per $1,000 of assessed value.
County Executive Sue Serino concluded, “As we look ahead, we know we will have many tough choices in the coming year, particularly as we craft the 2027 budget. I look forward to working with the Legislature in 2026 to address these challenges together.”
Legislators will consider potential veto overrides and formally adopt the tax levy to complete the 2026 Dutchess County Budget process at its meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 17th at 6pm.
* Complete list of amendments adopted by the County Legislature:
