CARMEL – Democratic Putnam County Executive hopeful Brett Yarris has criticized Republican County Executive Kevin Byrne’s 2027 proposed budget address as a “self-congratulatory campaign-style speech.”
Byrne, who is also being challenged next month by Conservative Tatiana Brahimi, outlined a proposed $229 million budget for next year, a fiscal spending plan that would reduce the property-tax levy from $45.2 million to $38.7 million, or $6.5 million, a reduction of more than 14 percent.
The 80-minute budget presentation took place before members of the county legislature and a full house gathered at the historic Putnam Courthouse in Carmel.
Byrne described the budget as “more than a financial document. It is a statement of our priorities. It reflects the choices we make about how government operates; how taxpayer dollars are spent, and what kind of a county we want to leave behind. And for four years, our priorities have remained consistent; to provide a more affordable, accountable, accessible, county government that serves us all.”
On Thursday, Yarris charged that “Putnam County was living through an affordability crisis, and what the executive offered was not a plan to address the mounting challenges facing our county. Instead, he proposed a one-time, band-aid giveaway, timed to reap the advantages of incumbency mere weeks before Election Day.”
Yarris noted: “The centerpiece cut to the property-tax levy returns approximately $163 per year to the average Putnam homeowner. This amount stands starkly against a county fund balance of over $200 million. Because the mechanism refunds landowners based on property value – with the largest sums going to the largest landowners – the policy would redistribute county savings first to New York City’s watershed holdings and utilities like NYSEG and Central Hudson.”
Yarris said, “For a typical homeowner this reduction will not even cover a week’s worth of groceries. The Byrne administration has governed for four years without proposing anything to invest the real resources we need to navigate our current crisis. And now, in election season, we get an insulting distraction.”
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