Stanford supervisor pushes transparency in first year

STANFORD — Last fall, Julia Descoteaux campaigned for and won election as Stanford’s supervisor — but she says she does not want Town Hall to feel political. Instead, she wants it to be accessible and transparent, qualities that recently earned Stanford top honors from the New York Association of Towns (NYAT).

Last week, Stanford’s town officials attended the annual NYAT luncheon to receive official recognition as a 2026 “Gold Town of Excellence,” an achievement that acknowledges towns that go above and beyond in the areas of economic development, sustainability, planning, community engagement, governance and transparency, and workforce development.

“This honor reflects the hard work happening every day,” Descoteaux said. “It belongs to our entire community.”

Descoteaux, a Democrat, describes the position as both representative and chief financial officer. As Stanford’s budget officer, she is responsible for keeping the town on stable financial footing while navigating the pressures common to rural communities. Rising housing costs, an aging population, limited staff capacity and a narrow tax base are among the challenges she said will command her focus in the year ahead.

“I try to lead with data and examples,” Descoteaux said. She moved from New York City to Stanford during the COVID-19 pandemic and now serves as town supervisor. “I think of myself as a very community-minded and neighbor-minded leader.”

Stanford has been helped in recent years by generous donors — including a sizable $2 million gift to subsidize EMS and ambulance service — but Descoteaux said philanthropy can’t replace long-term financial planning.

“That’s not a long-term solution,” she said.

Her approach, she said, is to minimize the burden on taxpayers by pursuing grants and outside funding — while being candid about the tradeoffs that come with them. Stanford is one of the only towns in Dutchess County not part of the Greenway Compact, she said, which can limit grants and funding.

“Everything has tradeoffs,” she said. “My goal is to talk about all of the pros and cons.”

The transparency-first stance is likely to be tested as the town prepares to take up zoning recommendations and changes later this year, tied to Stanford’s comprehensive plan “Preserving Our Rural Character and Advancing Economic Vitality,” adopted in December 2023. Descoteaux expects the conversation to be high-stakes — in part because residents are protective of the town’s rural character.

“Most people really want to keep Stanford rural,” she said. “They don’t want Stanford to turn into something it’s not.”

While a significant portion of Stanford’s land is permanently protected from development, those parcels generate little or no property tax revenue. As a result, the town must fund its services with a smaller tax base, creating additional financial strain.

At the same time, she said, preserving Stanford’s identity cannot come at the expense of long-term sustainability, particularly as housing costs continue to rise.

In the near term, Descoteaux said she hopes to make local government easier to access and understand. Her priorities include modernizing the town website, livestreaming meetings, digitizing the paper-based building department and, eventually, enabling electronic payments.

“These are things that can be solved with technology,” she said, describing efficiency as both a workforce issue and a fiscal one.

Descoteaux’s style is deliberately personal — a hockey mom and a dog mom who talks about government in the language of neighbors in an attempt to avoid divisiveness. Government works best when residents stay in the loop and the conversation, she said.

“Feedback is a gift,” she said. “We read everything. My ask is that we keep up that dialogue.”