I write as a Mahopac resident who has spent a lifetime in Putnam County public service as a Carmel councilman, as Carmel Town Supervisor from 1996 to 2003, and as Deputy County Executive from 2003 to 2006. Before that I spent more than three decades as a school administrator. I have sat on both sides of the dais. I know what it looks like when a government plans ahead, and I know what it looks like when numbers are used to tell only half the story.
County Executive Kevin Byrne has delivered results many of us were told for years were impossible. Putnam cut the county property-tax levy by $2.5 million over three years, the largest county property-tax cut in our history. The county mill rate is now back to pre-recession levels and the lowest in nearly 20 years. The county ended the sales tax on essential clothing and shoes, suspended the county gas tax above $3 a gallon, and eliminated park fees. Long-term debt has been cut by more than half. Putnam created its first real sales-tax revenue-sharing agreement with our towns and villages so more dollars stay local for infrastructure and taxpayer relief. Before this administration, county property taxes had risen for more than a decade. That cycle was broken.
Those results did not happen by accident. They happened because the county treated the fund balance as a planning tool, not a political talking point.
Recent press coverage and Legislative Resolution #238 have told the public that Putnam’s fund balance grew from $33.9 million in 2012 to $191 million at the end of 2024, and that $163 million of that is “unrestricted” money ready to spend. I found this troubling, so I did some research and looked it up. That is not really what the audited financial statements say.
The county’s own 2012 audited statements show a combined governmental fund balance of $38 million — not $33.9 million. The 2024 audited report shows a combined governmental fund balance of about $191 million. Of that amount, only $78.3 million was unassigned and available at the county’s discretion (not $163 million or whatever number the critics are asserting these days).
Another $84.7 million was already assigned for identified purposes such as retirement costs, insurance, tax stabilization, future capital projects, state aid, disaster recovery, judgments and settlements, and roads. Other funds are restricted or non-spendable and assigned funds cannot be appropriated or spent without legislative approval. It is not some slush fund. That is responsible financial management. It is also how a county plans the next tax cut instead of the next tax hike.
Some of us can remember what happens when a Hudson Valley county treats reserves as unused cash and spends its way into a hole. A little more than a decade ago, Rockland County depleted its fund balance, ran a deficit that reached $138 million, and watched its bond rating fall to one step above junk. The State Comptroller listed Rockland as the most fiscally stressed county in New York. Albany had to authorize $96 million in deficit-financing bonds. Property taxes were hiked sharply. The county was placed under state budgetary oversight, and it took until 2024, more than a decade, just to pay off that deficit bond. Rockland is stronger today only because later leaders rebuilt the reserves the earlier experiment burned through. Putnam should learn from that warning, not repeat it.
I respect the legislature’s decision to restore its own authority to assign fund balance, as does County Executive Byrne (he signed and approved the resolution). That is a policy choice within its power. What I cannot respect is using misleading figures to create the impression that $163 million is sitting unused because the county has overtaxed its residents. The opposite is true.
Byrne’s administration has used a healthy reserve to pay down debt, avoid unnecessary borrowing, fund capital work in cash, and deliver historic tax relief — while keeping an AA-level credit rating and planning more cuts for the 2027 budget.
Transparency requires the whole picture, not a selected headline number. A strong fund balance, properly classified and assigned, is how local government protects taxpayers in bad years and cuts taxes in good ones. Putnam is stronger today because that work was done. Policy makers can debate who assigns the reserves, but should not (intentionally or not) mislead the public about what those reserves actually are.
Kevin Byrne has accomplished what many said was impossible. He has cut our taxes, reduced our debt, and strengthened our savings to support future tax cuts. Those are real tax cuts, from real leadership, delivering real results.
That is why I am proud to endorse Kevin Byrne for re-election as Putnam County Executive. None of the other candidates come close.
Frank J. DelCampo is former Putnam County Deputy Executive (2003–2006) and former Carmel Town Supervisor (1996–2003).
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here