A last minute gift from county legislators: $25M in upgrades for Dutchess Stadium

“This is an outrageous grab of taxpayer dollars at a time when every dollar needs to go county residents’ urgent needs,” said Minority Leader Yvette Valdés Smith, pictured top right at Thursday’s budget meeting.

A last minute gift from county legislators: $25M in upgrades for Dutchess Stadium

Amendment added to aid the home of the Yankees-affiliated Renegades

The New York Yankees are having a pretty great holiday season. Not only did they re-sign home run king Aaron Judge for a cool $360mil, but their Dutchess County-affiliated stadium will be getting those “much-needed” $25 million-worth of upgrades thanks to an amendment by legislators in the final stretch of the 2023 county budget meeting.

On Thursday night, Dutchess County legislators passed the amendment as part of a $587.7 million spending plan in the county’s 2023 budget with a 18-7 vote.

“This is the first I’ve heard so I haven’t had the opportunity to analyze the issue,” the county’s legislative council said when asked about whether adding the amendment into the budget was following proper procedure.

According to a press release from the county office, “to fund much-needed improvements at Dutchess Stadium that had been discussed earlier this year, this budget utilizes an appropriation of fund balance of $25 million to achieve savings on the project. Taking the opportunity to move the requested funds into the 2023 County Budget through an amendment, rather than bonding for the cost of the project, saves approximately $11 million in interest costs.”

“County taxpayers count on us to be faithful stewards of their hard-earned dollars – to ensure the funds they entrust to us are spent conscientiously – and we remain steadfast in our pledge to return to residents tax dollars whenever possible,” Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro added in the press release.

Before Thursday night’s budget meeting, Dutchess County Comptroller Robin Lois wrote an email to legislators saying the amendment “circumvents our County’s Capital Project Plan process as well as our Capital Project Policy that was put in place to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure proper oversight." She recommended tabling the request until January once more information was available to be reviewed.

“This is an outrageous grab of taxpayer dollars at a time when every dollar needs to go county residents’ urgent needs,” said Minority Leader Yvette Valdés Smith. “Our caucus fought for free public transportation, affordable housing, funds for early intervention for childhood education, DCC tuition funds, a Climate Smart Coordinator, and youth mental health beds, of which the county has none. Those proposals were dismissed as ‘too expensive’ – and now suddenly $25 million is available for this. A Dutchess County “Park” that is not free for our residents and that you must purchase a ticket to enter.”

Budget director Jessica White said during the meeting that the project was part of the county’s 2020 and 2021 capital plans, and had been discussed on multiple occasions with input from the public. “This administration has always said this project would be brought forward at the end of 2022.”

Legislators did not pass an amendment to the budget that would allocate $570K to cover the cost of tuition to Dutchess Community College for disadvantaged high school students. Kelly Allenwood, president of the Beacon High School PTA, said, “If only a fraction of that money could be given to help sustain this program, that would be money well spent.”

Watch the full meeting, here.

BTW: Say goodbye to the county exec

On Friday, December 16, beginning at 11:30 a.m., Marc Molinaro, newly elected to Congress, will share final thoughts as Dutchess County executive with a farewell address followed by an open house at 2 p.m. Registration required by Tuesday, December 13, 2022. dutchessny.gov/RSVP