As I head off to our January board meeting, where we will ask the state to keep our sales tax at the same level, a reminder that in December 2023, the Dutchess County Republicans voted to increase your sales taxes while I proposed a cut. Thankfully, county and state dems were able to stop the increase from going into effect and lo and behold, last year’s budget was passed without incident even without the extra money.
2025 Budget passes – some key takeaways
A quick update about the 2025 proposed budget
After years of effort, Dutchess finally requires IDA and LDC members to disclose business, financial ties
At their February meeting, the Dutchess County Legislature unanimously approved a change requiring the county’s Industrial Development Agency (IDA) and Local Development Corporation (LDC) members to complete the same annual disclosure forms as county department heads and elected officials.
The move came after years of resistance by Republican legislators who had removed the requirement in late 2020 after IDA members complained and threatened to quit.
“Every year, I would try to add [the IDA/LDC members] back in. But the Republicans always voted it down,” said Legislator Kristofer Munn. “With millions of dollars of tax breaks on the line, I believe it makes sense to know if any conflicts of interest could impact their decisions.”
The IDA and LDC are not-for-profit entities created to promote economic development and job creation in Dutchess County by providing financial assistance through tax breaks and other incentives. Members are volunteers nominated by the county executive and approved by the legislature.
New disclosure requirements were implemented in 2019 when the legislature overhauled the county’s ethics rules. They require eligible individuals to list all business connections for themselves and immediate family members, especially companies that do business with Dutchess County, to ensure complete transparency around possible conflicts of interest. The annual disclosure requirements are virtually identical to New York State government’s rules.
In 2019, the county legislature included the members of the IDA and LDC in the list of those required to file the disclosures. But in 2020, the Republican majority removed them from the list shortly after complaints surfaced from the volunteer board.
The attorney for the IDA and LDC members went before the Board of Ethics on July 24, 2020, and requested an additional extension on the filing deadline, which had already been extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to minutes from the meeting, there had been complaints to then-County Executive Marc Molinaro’s office that volunteer board members would rather resign than fill out the form and that certain volunteer board members feel that they must disclose irrelevant information that may cause them to lose money or business dealings and would not reveal any potential conflicts of interest.
According to campaign finance records, many members of the IDA and LDC are also donors to Molinaro and the Republican party.
Don Cappillino, attorney for the IDA, added that the Financial Disclosure Statement could be an issue since it can be disclosed under FOIL, and there could be a situation wherein the information is used by board members’ competition, for instance, to gain clients from them in specific businesses, according to the minutes.
“That’s understandable, and maybe they’ll choose to step down,” said Munn about the complaints. “But there are 300 thousand people in Dutchess County; I’m sure we can find seven qualified people willing to serve and to complete the disclosures.”
Committee votes to approve bus service funding
At last night’s Public Works committee meeting, the Dutchess County Legislature unanimously approved a resolution to restore funding for the County’s Route C Loop Bus to run north of TOPS supermarket in Rhinebeck.
Attached to the resolution – which I sponsored – is a December 22 email from the Department of Public Works to the administration urging them to restore the funding after reconsidering the impact of the cuts. That email was the direct result of citizen involvement at a public forum in early December attended by around 100 people, many of whom testified about the negative impact of the cuts.
Next Tuesday, the full legislature is expected to approve the change, and then it will be signed by the County Executive who has indicated their support.
County to consider restoring Route C funding
Good news – the Dutchess County Legislature will be considering an amendment to the budget to restore the bus service on Route C beyond the TOPS supermarket.
Without this change, buses will cease to run north of TOPS at the end of March.
While I’ve been working with county, town and village officials to lobby for this over the past month, I know that the catalyst for this change was the fantastic turnout and the heartfelt and pained testimony at the public forum at Rhinebeck Town Hall in December.
I look forward to supporting this change. Thank you to the county’s Department of Public Works, Public Transit, and the new incoming administration for having an open mind (and ear) on this issue.
County announces cancellation of Tivoli / Red Hook bus service
As of March 30, 2024, Dutchess County Transit plans to end bus service to Red Hook and Tivoli, terminating the Route C line at TOPS supermarket in Rhinebeck.
The official announcement by the county was made last Friday.
A public forum will be held on Thursday, December 14, at 6 pm at Rhinebeck Town Hall to hear from the public on the proposed changes. Many local officials in Red Hook and Tivoli – myself included – plan to attend to oppose the change, and we would love to have local residents who oppose this change join us.
The changes were brought forward as a “done deal” during the budget process, where the cuts were referred to as “efficiencies” to expand coverage in other areas with more ridership. There had been no indication that the county was considering route changes before they were presented.
Dutchess County should be investing more in public transit, not cutting routes. When it is $25M for luxury clubhouses at Dutchess Stadium, no problem. But maintaining (or expanding) public transit? Not enough money.
Dutchess Republicans propose sales tax hike to fix their budget crisis
After a decade of relying on sales tax growth and Federal and State bailouts, and multiple years of “biggest ever” property tax cuts whenever Molinaro was up for election for governor, congress or re-election as county executive, the cupboard is now bare.
Even after taking $16M from the rainy-day fund this year (after pulling $60M+ the last two years), the county finds itself millions short on the revenue side. And so the Republicans have proposed filling that gap with a sales tax hike that would have us pay 0.25% more, putting at us 8.375% – higher than Ulster (8%) and Columbia (8%).
Last year, $25M was spent on Dutchess Stadium upgrades for the New York Yankees with no plan to recoup the money (I voted NO). The comptroller’s latest report says we’ll lose another $400,000 next year on operations rather than the “break-even” we were promised.
We spent millions more to outbid the city school district to acquire a building in the City of Poughkeepsie to use as a homeless shelter that was completely unsuitable (I warned them, voted against it and they bought it anyway). The county is now desperately seeking grants to hopefully renovate it and use it for other purposes.
We bought Camp Nooteeming to make it a “county park” except, like the stadium, public access is extremely limited.
The list goes on.
In the end, we have important services to deliver to all our residents and the administration has dug the county a hole so deep that they may have no option but to raise taxes.
Budget meetings will run from late October into December. If you have any questions about the budget, please don’t hesitate to send them my way during this important time.
Victory 2023
Thank you to the people of Red Hook, Tivoli, and northern Rhinebeck for our overwhelming victory on Tuesday. I look forward to continuing to serve our community for the next two years.
Court dismisses Bulay defamation lawsuit
After spending two years and more than $100,000 pursuing a defamation lawsuit against me, the New York Supreme Court threw out the case brought by right-wing movie theater chain owner Al Bulay. Bulay is the majority owner of Lyceum Cinemas in Red Hook, Roosevelt Cinemas in Hyde Park, New Paltz Cinemas, Starr Theater of St. Johnsbury, and Bennington Cinemas.
Thank you to everyone who supported me as I fought this frivolous lawsuit. Thanks to donations of time, money, and legal expertise, I am emerging from this battle financially whole. A huge shout-out to my friend and attorney, Michael Treybich of Treybich Law who did a fabulous job defending me, facing off against a large firm of expensive and experienced attorneys.
“The dismissal will spare many witnesses and victims the ordeal of reliving their experiences with Mr. Bulay at trial,” said Munn’s attorney Michael Treybich of Treybich Law. “It establishes that the question of whether a local businessperson is racist and homophobic is a matter of public interest and protected by NYS Civil Rights law.”
As I’ve said from the beginning, everyone has the right to their opinions and, thanks to the First Amendment, can shout them from the rooftops (or their movie theater Facebook pages) if they wish. But with that right to spout off in public comes the possibility of public criticism for those views.
And when you use your business to spread those views, there is the possibility that people choose to go elsewhere with their hard-earned money.
