county government

Dutchess County’s $629 million budget for 2025 passes

POUGHKEEPSIE — The Dutchess County’s Legislature adopted their 2025 budget on Monday, Dec. 9, with a 23-2 bipartisan vote.

The budget includes a $629.4 million spending plan. The adopted budget included several amendments to County Executive Sue Serino’s budget, which she proposed earlier in October.

Businesses and homeowners will see a 2.7% decrease in the county’s property tax rates. Last year, the property tax rate was $2.23 and with the approved budget, this will be lowered to $2.17 in 2025, marking the tenth consecutive year of property tax rate cuts.

The 2025 budget also aims to improve services that residents rely on for their day-to-day lives. Many new initiatives focus on public safety, youth services and support for seniors, veterans and families. In addition, the initiatives open up support for the Dutchess County Drug Task Force, Housing Trust fund applications, historic investments in Emergency Medical Services and more.

County legislators made several amendments to the 2025 county budget, which were unanimously approved, creating additional funding for existing and new projects including, but not limited to, $750,000 for the Dutchess County Sheriff’s office for overtime purposes at the county’s justice and transition center, $500,000 for the Department of Planning & Development to fund the Municipal Innovation Grant program with a specific focus on the elderly, $50,000 for the Office of Veterans’ Affairs for expanded transportation services, and $50,000 to the Department of Community and Family Services Youth Division to fund after-school programming to serve at-risk youth.

Chris Drago (D-19), was one of two lawmakers who voted no on the 2025 Dutchess County Budget.

“While the budget included a few things that we have been advocating for this year, it did not go far enough in addressing our cost of living, housing, climate, mental health, or EMS crisis here in Dutchess County,” Drago said. “There will be other opportunities to adjust the budget as needs arise in 2025, and I plan to continue to advocate for more resources in the Planning Department to address our cost of living and housing crisis.”

The newest version of the budget will be reviewed and signed by Serino. It will then go to the Dutchess County Legislature’s Board meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 18, for override consideration of amendment vetoes made by the County Executive, if any.

For more information on the 2025 Dutchess County Budget, visit dutchessny.gov/budget2025.

county government

Latest News

Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy

Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy

Sheffield resident, singer Wanda Houston will play Mumbet in "1781" on June 19 at 7 p.m. at The Center on Main, Falls Village.

Jeffery Serratt

In August of 1781, after spending thirty years as an enslaved woman in the household of Colonel John Ashley in Sheffield, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, was the first enslaved person to sue for her freedom in court. At the time of her trial there were 5,000 enslaved people in the state. MumBet’s legal victory set a precedent for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1790, the first in the nation. She took the name Elizabeth Freeman.

Local playwrights Lonnie Carter and Linda Rossi will tell her story in a staged reading of “1781” to celebrate Juneteenth, ay 7 p.m. at The Center on Main in Falls Village, Connecticut.Singer Wanda Houston will play MumBet, joined by actors Chantell McCulloch, Tarik Shah, Kim Canning, Sherie Berk, Howard Platt, Gloria Parker and Ruby Cameron Miller. Musical composer Donald Sosin added, “MumBet is an American hero whose story deserves to be known much more widely.”

Keep ReadingShow less
history

A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

The new mural painted by students at Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut.

Photo by Kristy Barto, owner of The Nutmeg Fudge Company

Thanks to a unique collaboration between The Nutmeg Fudge Company, local artist Gerald Incandela, and Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut a mural — designed and painted entirely by students — now graces the interior of the fudge company.

The Nutmeg Fudge Company owner Kristy Barto was looking to brighten her party space with a mural that celebrated both old and new Torrington. She worked with school board member Susan Cook and Incandela to reach out to the Academy’s art teacher, Rachael Martinelli.

Keep ReadingShow less
community

In the company of artists

In the company of artists

Curator Henry Klimowicz, left, with artists Brigitta Varadi and Amy Podmore at The Re Institute

Aida Laleian

For anyone who wants a deeper glimpse into how art comes about, an on-site artist talk is a rich experience worth the trip.On Saturday, June 14, Henry Klimowicz’s cavernous Re Institute — a vast, converted 1960’s barn north of Millerton — hosted Amy Podmore and Brigitta Varadi, who elucidated their process to a small but engaged crowd amid the installation of sculptures and two remarkable videos.

Though they were all there at different times, a common thread among Klimowicz, Podmore and Varadi is their experience of New Hampshire’s famed MacDowell Colony. The silence, the safety of being able to walk in the woods at night, and the camaraderie of other working artists are precious goads to hardworking creativity. For his part, for fifteen years, Klimowicz has promoted community among thousands of participating artists, in the hope that the pairs or groups he shows together will always be linked. “To be an artist,” he stressed, “is to be among other artists.”

Keep ReadingShow less
exhibit