TOWN OF WALLKILL – Two Republican Town of Wallkill Councilmen are accusing Supervisor Frank DenDanto of manipulating the town’s financial records to obtain $4 million in funding from the state.
Senator James Skoufis (D, Orange County) and Assemblywoman Paula Elaine Kay (D, Rock Hill) announced in June that they secured $4 million in this year’s final state budget to avert significant service cuts, job losses, and property tax hikes in the Town of Wallkill. In a letter to the legislators in March, DenDanto wrote that the town faces “a significant budgetary shortfall” due to “years of fiscal mismanagement.”
DenDanto, a Democrat, asked the state to bail out the town with an immediate $4 million “shot in the arm.” Councilmen Mark Coyne and Eric Johnson, who are DenDanto’s political rivals, allege that the Supervisor instructed department heads earlier this year to take 20 percent out of their budget to make the town look financially unstable to help obtain the funds. The town has yet to receive the $4 million but is expected to accept part of the funding next month.
“It is just a big lie so Frank can make himself look like a hero,” Coyne said. “Frank needs to create a problem and fix it to get elected. He did this all for political gain.”
DenDanto did not return a message seeking comment for this story.
In June, when the $4 million for Wallkill was announced, officials said that without emergency state funding, residents would face burdensome property tax increases or town services would be reduced to a bare minimum, including 97 layoffs in the police department and Department of Public Works.
DenDanto told Mid-Hudson News earlier this month that he could be forced to raise property taxes by 64 percent in the town next year due to what he asserts was financial mismanagement by the previous administration. However, DenDanto said on Thursday night at his “Spill the Tea” forum that taxes would now only go 10 percent over the tax cap.
Without the $4 million, Johnson said the town still has $6 million in general fund balance, the town’s savings account, and just received $1.8 million in sales tax revenue from Orange County for the third quarter of this year. According to Johnson, the town has $54 million in all accounts.
Johnson and Coyne said DenDanto has spent at least $700,000 on a financial audit intended to prove that money was stolen from the town, but it found no evidence of theft. No employees have been laid off, and DenDanto has spent approximately $280,000 outside of the budget on raises and additional hires.
“Frank said we were going to go broke in September, then it was October and then November,” said Johnson, who provided documentation of Wallkill’s $6 million in fund balance as of September 30th of this year.
According to financial records provided by Johnson, the Town of Wallkill had $6 million in fund balance at the end of 2023, $5.7 million in December of 2024 and $5.1 million at the end of last year.
“We clearly don’t need the money,” Johnson added. “All the bills are being paid. Frank wants to prove there is an issue with the finances, but the numbers don’t back up his claims.”
Earlier this month, the State Comptroller’s Office reported that the Town of Wallkill’s fiscal year 2026 budget included revenue and spending projections that were not always reasonable or supported, putting the town at risk of a declining financial condition. Four weeks ago, DenDanto told Mid-Hudson News that Wallkill’s financial issues could reach a boiling point by mid-October.
At his forum on Thursday night, DenDanto advised residents that this week the Town of Wallkill received a letter from the state informing the Supervisor that it will receive its first $2 million.
“That is not just two elected officials standing out at a press event saying we are getting a check,” DenDanto said. “That’s actually the state Ways and Means committee saying we are now issuing you an amount of money. Now, here’s the rub. There is always a catch.”
DenDanto added that the funds “showed up” as a grant.
“Who knows how we deal with grants as a municipality?,” DenDanto asked the crowd.
“Spend the money first,” he added. “So I have to spend $2 million to get my $2 million. That’s the exercise that we are trying to demonstrate to the state right this very minute. As we speak, that narrative is being built to the Ways and Means. Thank you so much for the grant. We are happy to have it. Let us show you how we spent the $2 million. I’m going to tell you, the earliest that could be, the absolute earliest, if everything went perfectly, which it won’t, will be the third week of November.”
“Frank said we need to spend $2 million to get the grant,” countered Coyne. “But Frank has been saying all year that we have no money. His misinformation just keeps evolving. It seems as if he is not capable of being honest.”
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