Molinaro Proposes Budget For Dutchess In 2023

Every year our elected representatives across the country, in every state, city and town ponder and analyze the ways in which they can better our communities. Now with the end of 2022 in sight, representatives are putting forward ideas and plans for 2023. However, much like anything else, nothing can be done without crunching the numbers and calculating the cost.

Budget Proposed

This brings us to Monday. Marcus Molinaro a representative for Dutchess County, put forward a budget plan for 2023. Molinaro's proposed budget seeks to accomplish a number of different tasks. The overall budget proposal would cost a few shades over $560 million dollars. This budget however, would be significantly cheaper than the budget put forward for 2022, which was allotted $601 million dollars. In addition, this budget would also reportedly cut tax rates by 12%. With that being said this proposed budget definitely has a few major area's it wishes to address in the Dutchess County community.

The tax rate decreases 12%, from $2.85 to $2.50 per $1,000 of true value assessments.

Opioid Crisis.

One of the first major parts of this deal is how it will attack the growing opioid crisis in Dutchess County. Currently between Dutchess, Westchester and Ulster Counties, our area is on pace to have more overdose deaths than in 2021. Part of addressing this issue would be that nearly $5 million dollars total will be invested into MidHudson Regional Hospital's Behavioral Health Center of Excellence and St. Joseph's in Poughkeepsie, which will focus on long-term rehabilitation outpatient care.

Homelessness

The plan for attacking homelessness in the community is also multifaceted. For starters, an  "Emergency Housing Facility" will be opening roughly at the end of 2023. This a great investment for Dutchess county, as it continues the aggressive movement that has been made towards creating more affordable public housing. Through the Housing Trust Fund, Dutchess county had already committed more than $12 million dollars to this campaign.

Public Safety

One of the final stand out aspects of this proposed budget, is the emphasis is taking towards public safety and law enforcement. An example of this would be the return of a previous program that was implemented in City of Poughkeepsie School District. That program would be the Youth & Police Initiative, a program designed to bridge the gap between our youth and police officers. That being said, not all districts have come out in support of the initiative, however a number of districts have expressed interest in the program.

A major investment in public safety and law enforcement will be the better equipment for police officers. The budget put forward would help in providing every member of the Sheriff's office with body cameras' for interactions with the public but also for the "reform and modernization initiatives". Just as with the previous program, numerous cities and towns have expressed their formal interest in this initiative for body cameras'. Between the actual buying of the cameras' and installation, each camera would cost roughly $4800 dollars. That would come out to nearly $630,000 for camera's for 215 officers. Finally, the proposal would invest $20 million dollars into public-safety radio network system over five years.

There's Always a Critic

While on paper Molinaro's budget proposal looks promising, it has garnered criticism. Yvette Valdes Smith, a Democrat representing the 16th District for Fishkill and Beacon stated...

Marcus Molinaro has had over a decade to tackle these issues head on...The consistent underinvestment and neglect by Molinaro has exacerbated each and every one of these issues to the point of crisis

Another issue Democrats took umbrage with was the fact that they weren't provided a copy of the proposed budget before it was proposed. Much of this type of conjecture is expected as election season is afoot. Molinaro could potentially be replaced by Democrat Josh Riley as both compete to represent the 19th Congressional District. One week out from elections, Molinaro could be using this budget plan as the final piece to winning his campaign, while Democrats use it as an attempt to prove why he doesn't deserve his position.