Dutchess Executive Proposes $651M Budget

Includes more sales-tax revenue for Beacon
The budget proposed by the Dutchess County executive for 2026 would lower the property tax rate and provide more sales tax revenue to Beacon.
Sue Serino's proposal to the Legislature includes $651 million in spending. Among its provisions, it would eliminate 10 vacant jobs and leave 17 unfilled. (See dutchessny.gov.)
Despite those changes, spending would rise by 1.8 percent, Serino said on Oct. 29 in an address to the Legislature. She cited a $6.7 million increase in "state mandates," primarily for daycare, early intervention, and special-education programs, as well as higher costs for salaries and benefits.

Revenues would come from $273.8 million in sales taxes, $106 million in property taxes and $23 million in general-fund reserves, or savings. The tax levy would be $224,000 below a state-mandated cap, and the rate assessed on property owners would fall from $2.17 to $2.10 per $1,000 of assessed value.
Serino said she anticipates $5.4 million in additional sales tax revenue by allowing an exemption from Dutchess' portion of the sales tax (3.75 percent) for clothing and shoes costing less than $110 to lapse on March 1. (The 8.125 percent sales tax includes 4 percent for the state and 0.375 percent for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority).
Beacon's share of sales taxes, which totaled $6.1 million, will rise from 2.35 percent to 2.45 percent in 2026, or an additional $268,000. According to Serino, ending the clothing and shoe exemption would yield an extra $133,000 for Beacon.
Democrats criticized the decision to end the exemption, which took effect in 2022. Legislator Yvette Valdés Smith, who represents Ward 4 in Beacon and part of Fishkill and is the Legislature's minority leader, called it a "rash decision" that will hurt working families.
"The Republican-led county government's mismanagement of funds - including a luxury clubhouse at the baseball stadium, mindboggling pay raises and failed litigation against New York State - has necessitated this tax increase," Valdés Smith said in a statement.

Republicans, who hold 15 of 25 seats on the Legislature, faced criticism for funding upgrades at Heritage Financial Park in Wappingers Falls, the home of the Hudson Valley Renegades, the New York Yankees' High-A affiliate. They also authorized spending up to $100,000 to sue the state over a state law requiring most local elections to be held in even years, but no funds were spent, according to the county. The state Court of Appeals upheld the law in October, but a new lawsuit challenging its legality has been filed in federal court.
Smith said the budget "fails to properly address the EMS [emergency medical services] crisis" and "contains no meaningful funds for our efforts to deal with the housing crisis."
In her budget address, Serino highlighted $2 million in funding for supplemental ambulance service to address shortages that have led to long wait times, along with $2.5 million for youth programs and $1 million for the county's Housing Trust Fund, which supports affordable housing projects.
Her budget would fund two school resource officers, a Drone as First Responder Program for the county's Real-Time Crime Center and a new Elder Justice Task Force. That collaboration with the Office for the Aging and the district attorney and sheriff's offices "will investigate, identify, pursue and prosecute those who exploit older adults through abuse, fraud or neglect," according to Serino.