Highlands Current Audio Stories

City tackles zoning, parking, rentals

While meeting for the first time in three weeks on Tuesday (Sept. 8), the Beacon City Council worked its way through a packed agenda.

The council held a public hearing on zoning amendments that would allow hotels in the Fishkill Creek Development District. The district encompasses only a handful of properties, but the owner of the former Tioronda Hat Works Factory at 555 South Ave. hopes to build a hotel. Bed-and-breakfasts and inns, which must have 10 or fewer rooms, are already allowed in the zone.

Residents addressed both sides of the issue. Kevin Byrne, a Planning Board member who said he was speaking as a resident, said the draft language could allow "any and all uses" as accessories to a hotel, including undesirable ones. While a "certain size" hotel could benefit the city, Byrne envisioned a scenario in which a developer, unable to get a project off the ground, could ask for a variance to build apartments instead.

Another resident, Nate Schilling, supported allowing hotels. He said that when hosting people in Beacon, "you run into a ceiling. There just isn't capacity." Schilling described having colleagues come to Beacon and "they stayed in Fishkill, which was a little embarrassing." The city has seen significant housing growth, but "we need to balance that with more large-scale commerce," he said.

The council will discuss the proposal on Sept. 21; the public hearing was adjourned to Oct. 5.

A public hearing was held on proposed parking restrictions. If approved, parking would be banned on the west side of Tioronda Avenue for 20 feet in both directions from its intersection with Van Nydeck Avenue and 25 feet north of its intersection with Vine Street. Parking would also be eliminated on the west side of Tioronda from Vine Street to Wolcott Avenue.

On the east side of the street, there would be no parking from 140 feet from Main Street to Wolcott. On West Main Street, the parking limit would expand from 30 minutes to 2 hours along sections where a mixed-use development is under construction.

Byrne, who lives on Tioronda, said the changes would prevent parked cars from crowding both sides of the busy street.

Margaret Watkinson, who owns PlayTivity Early Learning on West Main, said that "as soon as you have two-hour parking there's going to be no parking for the people that are dropping kids off or picking them up or running into Brett's [Hardware] for a screw."

As with the zoning amendments, the council will discuss the parking proposals on Sept. 21 and resume the public hearing on Oct. 5.

Drawing on the Fishkill Avenue Concepts Committee report, the city may create a mixed-use zoning district in the corridor.

The draft zoning regulations for what the city is calling the East Gateway District (to avoid confusion with the Fishkill Creek Development District) would permit four-story buildings, as the committee recommended. New principal buildings would be oriented to maintain a continuous "street wall," while "maintaining flexibility for pedestrian spaces, landscaping, existing site constraints" and other design considerations, City Planner Natalie Quinn wrote.

Council Member Sergei Krasikov questioned whether allowing four stories would be wise, because tall buildings on narrow parcels in the corridor could appear like a "big, big mass," obstructing views and overwhelming neighboring homes. Mayor Lee Kyriacou said it's a "pretty logical approach" to allow a fourth story if the city's goal is to transform the strip into a residential area.

Streetscape provisions for sidewalks, landscaping and street trees would be established. Design standards would restrict development from visual impacts on the forthcoming Beacon Rail Trail, while the Planning Board would have to consider impacts to three designated Mount Beacon viewsheds.

Additional measures would attempt to balance "reasonable redevelopment" of the area while protecting the residential neighborhood on and around Mead Avenue.

Pam ...

Garrison resident was exposed to toxins at Ground Zero

Former Gov. George Pataki, who lives in Garrison, revealed last week that he has a lung disease related to his exposure to toxins at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks.

Pataki, who was governor from 1995 to 2006, told the New York Post that he has been diagnosed with restrictive airway disease, which can cause coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing and chest pain.

By one estimate, about 400,000 people were exposed to toxins after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. On Tuesday (Sept. 8), New York City released thousands of pages of air quality reports and other documents about the aftermath.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 82, also suffers from restrictive airway disease. A spokesperson for Giuliani, who was hospitalized in May, said it adds complications to other respiratory illnesses.

Pataki, 81, told the Post that he considers himself lucky he hasn't been diagnosed with cancer. In a statement to USA Today, he said attention should instead be on the "extraordinary men and women who answered the call that day and in the weeks and months that followed.

"Twenty-five years later, many are still living with the consequences of what they did for New York and for America," he said. "Our obligation is not simply to thank them once a year. It is to stand with them for the rest of their lives."

Can the two-term Republican hold on?

Rep. Mike Lawler is considered one of the nation's most vulnerable Republicans in this year's midterm elections. It was the same story in his last campaign, too.

But in a political era where both parties are drifting further apart, he's banking on New York voters still wanting a rare moderate voice in a polarized Washington. In fact, he thinks it's helpful that he's a Republican in an otherwise liberal state.

"Well, I think one thing to keep in mind is New York is controlled by Democrats," he said in an interview. "Their policies are directly responsible for the high cost of living, the decline in the quality of life, the out-of-control pro-criminal policies that make people less safe. These are their policies."

Lawler, who represents a lush and leafy section of the Hudson Valley, is trying to harness suburban anxiety over New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the surging progressive movement as he tries to beat the odds in a battleground district with many more registered Democrats than Republicans.

"Democrats, to me, have gone crazy," said Frank Zambrano, a 70-year-old retired fire marshal who lives in Rockland County and said his kids went to school with Lawler. "Give me something in the middle."

While Lawler's foes try to tie him to President Donald Trump's most inflammatory positions, he argues that he's willing to push back on both sides. In a recent campaign video, Lawler showcased a clip of Trump jokingly using an expletive to describe how much of "a pain" the congressman was to push for expanding a critical tax deduction known as SALT, which benefits homeowners in more expensive states like New York.

It may be difficult, however, for Lawler to paint his Democratic opponent Cait Conley as a progressive in Mamdani's mold.

A decorated combat veteran with degrees from Harvard and MIT, Conley is running as a pro-military moderate who can fight the president's agenda and capture some of the outsider energy that has lifted Democrats elsewhere.

"I think that that fire, that drive, that desire for change, it's not just contained to progressive voters," she said in an interview. "People are sick of status quo politicians. They're sick of the people who got us here."

Democrats want to claw back control of Congress by leveraging concerns over the U.S. war with Iran and an affordability crisis that's hitting everything from food to fuel to housing.

Lawler has heard a lot of those concerns firsthand, since they have been shouted at him during raucous town halls he's held in the district. He said it's possible to back Trump but also not agree with him on everything.

At a recent campaign event, Lawler told reporters he didn't support the president's decision to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants, noting he shepherded bipartisan legislation in the House to extend the policy and argued Haitians make up a critical part of his district's healthcare workers.

After the event, Lawler told The Associated Press: "When I agree with the president, I'm willing to say it. And when I disagree with him, I'm willing to say it."

"When it comes to President Trump, No. 1, he's the president of the United States, and the idea that you just say 'I hate you, I refuse to work with you,' you get nowhere. Where does that get you in terms of serving your constituents or your districts? Too many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have taken that posture, and they've gotten nothing done," he said.

Like other Democrats running this year, Conley has sought to play up her opponent's relationship to Trump, painting the incumbent as too beholden to the president's agenda on Iran, tariffs and cuts to the social safety net.

"Trump is throwing all the love on Lawler," she said, mentioning her opponent's recent rally in the district with the president. "Don't tell me you stand up to him."

Conley, a former counterterrorism director at the National Security Council under President Joe Biden, has tri...

Disputes claim that state has necessary access

Laura Bergman, who owns the property at the northern end of West Street in Cold Spring that serves as an entrance to the state-owned Dockside Park, says New York is claiming more rights than it has to create an entrance over her property to the proposed southern section of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail.

In a state court filing dated Sept. 4, Bergman's attorney argues that 1988 and 2000 easements that allow pedestrians and workers to enter the park do not permit access for the large numbers of visitors who would presumably pass by her home if the trail extends between Dockside and Little Stony Point.

Bergman was named in a lawsuit filed in May by the Village of Cold Spring and Town of Philipstown against state parks; Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Inc., a division of Scenic Hudson; and Putnam County, which recently asked Judge Gina Capone to remove it as a defendant. The village and town claim the state environmental review of the project does not adequately consider the trail's potential impact on the village.

Bergman purchased 3 North St. in 2012 from Richard Siskind, who in 1988 had granted an easement and right-of-way for pedestrians and some vehicles, landscaping, underground utility lines and grading, according to the court filing.

"The easement agreement contains no grant of public access, no authorization for a linear park, no right to accommodate high volumes of recreational visitors and no right to extend or convert the easement into a public trail or multi-use path serving a regional linear park system along the Hudson River," the filing states.

In the 2020 agreement, Bergman granted the state a 20-foot-wide easement for $1 to create an unpaved recreational trail. She claims that state parks presented a "superseding agreement" in 2022 that would have permitted additional uses such as walking, hiking, jogging, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, biking and other non-motorized activities, but it was never executed.

Bergman asked Capone to rule that the 1988 agreement is the only valid easement, saying that the circumstances since 2020 have "materially and substantially changed," given that she could not have anticipated the development of the Fjord Trail.

County asks for removal from lawsuit

An attorney for Putnam County requested on Aug. 21 that a judge remove it from Cold Spring and Philipstown's lawsuit challenging the state's environmental review of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail.

Putnam is named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed in May by the village and town against state parks and the trail's developer, Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Inc. Before Cold Spring and Philipstown sued, they mounted an unsuccessful campaign to have the county join them as a plaintiff.

Putnam's attorney, John Murtagh, noted in his firm's motion to dismiss that the town and village's petition does not state any claims against the county, but said they named it as a defendant "to afford it an opportunity to be heard."

His filing before state Judge Gina Capone includes emails exchanged on July 15 with the town's attorney, Mary Kate Ephraim, in a failed effort to get her consent to removing Putnam from the case.

In one of the emails, Murtagh told Ephraim that her "explanation that the petitioners are 'unhappy that they are not getting more support from the county' certainly does not establish a cause of action." He added that "hurt felling [sic] are hardly a basis for litigation."

In refusing Murtagh's request, Ephraim said the town could not agree to remove the county unless the other defendants — state parks, HHFT and Cold Spring resident Laura Bergman — consented. In addition, said Ephraim, removing the county before the other defendants respond "may expose our petition to a motion to dismiss for failure to join a necessary party."

Cold Spring and Philipstown's petition challenges the environmental review of the Fjord Trail, which spans 7.5 miles between Dockside Park in Cold Spring and Long Dock Park in Beacon, and is intended to better manage the crowds visiting Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve and Breakneck.

Construction is underway on the Breakneck Connector and Bridge, which will carry the trail over the Metro-North tracks north of the Breakneck Tunnel. The project, which includes renovations to the Breakneck train stop and parallel parking and sidewalks, underwent a separate environmental review, as has HHFT's proposal to turn Dutchess Manor into a headquarters and visitors center for the trail. The Fishkill Planning Board is reviewing the latter project.

State parks ended its review of the rest of the trail in January, issuing a "findings statement" that HHFT "avoids, minimizes or mitigates potential adverse environmental impacts to the maximum extent practicable" and "will achieve a balance between the protection of the environment and the need to accommodate social and economic considerations."

Both the town and village allege that the review does not adequately address the impacts that an expected increase in visitors will have on parking, traffic, emergency services and local quality of life. In its Aug. 21 filing, Putnam concedes that it has a "legitimate governmental interest" in the project's potential financial and public-safety impacts on the Sheriff's Office and emergency responders, but said its concerns were raised during the environmental review.

One week before a May 20 deadline for the village and town to file their petition, the Putnam Legislature's three-person Protective Services Committee took up Cold Spring and Philipstown's last-ditch request for the county to join the lawsuit. Instead of approving the request, the committee voted 2 to 1 to refer it to the Legislature's legal counsel for review, effectively guaranteeing that it would not be up for a full Legislature vote before the deadline.

After the Protective Services Committee voted, Philipstown Supervisor John Van Tassel asked the legislators, "Can I just mention the timeline that we're up against?" Legislator Jake D'Angelo responded: "That's not our problem."

During a Town Board meeting on Sept. 4, Van Tassel provided an update on the lawsuit. Releasing the county from the suit would leave the town "assumin...

Beacon school tax bills were mailed this week, and the district will begin accepting payments on Wednesday (Sept. 9). Residents have 30 days, after which a 2 percent penalty is applied.

The property tax rate for Beacon homes is $11.36 per $1,000 of assessed value, a 3.3 percent decrease over a year ago. The district includes homes in the towns of Fishkill and Wappinger, where the tax rate is $11.28 and $11.32, respectively. The rate decreased by 3 percent and 3.2 percent in those municipalities.

The tax rate for businesses in Beacon is $15.22 per $1,000 of assessed value, a 2.9 percent decrease. In Fishkill and Wappinger, the rates are $15.56 and $15.20, a 3 percent and 2.9 percent decrease.

The district's tax rates have decreased each year since 2021, but assessments have also risen annually, so a homeowner may not see savings. The increase in assessed values for homes in Beacon this year was 6.7 percent and for businesses, 9.2 percent. In Fishkill, assessments increased by 6.9 percent and 10.2 percent, and in Wappinger, by 10.7 percent and 7.6 percent.

Superintendent Matt Landahl updated the school board on Aug. 24 on capital projects underway in the district.

New playground equipment has been installed at Sargent Elementary, and play structures at Glenham Elementary should be ready by the first day of school on Sept. 8. With the upgrades, new equipment has been installed at each of the district's four elementary schools.

New boilers for Beacon High School and Glenham are on track to be installed before the heating season. Improvements to the baseball and softball fields at the high school should be complete before the spring 2027 seasons. Work on the fire alarms and public address systems in all six district schools has begun.

Renovations to Seeger Theater at the high school will take place in January and February. Air conditioning at Sargent and South Avenue elementaries will begin in the spring. Sargent will get AC in 2027 in common spaces such as the gym and cafeteria. Some classrooms will be air-conditioned the following year. South Avenue will get AC in the gym and cafeteria and second-floor classrooms. AC work at Glenham, Forrestal Elementary and Rombout Middle School will begin in 2028.

The high school tennis courts and the entryways at all schools will be resurfaced next summer.

Other than the playgrounds at Sargent and Glenham, which were funded by a 2021 capital plan, the work is being paid for with $50 million in spending approved by district voters in 2024.

The school board approved a resolution to use $790,000 from savings to cover a shortfall in the 2025-26 budget. The district hired several staff members last fall to assist with special education, but their salaries were not included in the spending plan.

There is no impact to taxpayers, and the salaries are included in the 2026-27 budget, said Deputy Superintendent Ann Marie Quartironi.

When Rombout Middle School students begin nine-period days next week (instead of eight), an initiative in the 2026-27 budget, there will be room for sixth graders to take health and Life Design Skills, a new course on social/emotional skills and the transition to middle school.

For seventh graders, the new classes include Innovators in Action (an entrepreneurial lab) and 10-week electives on family and consumer science, video and media production and other subjects. With the additional period, eighth graders will be able to take high school-level studio art — previously offered only at 7:30 a.m., before the school day — during regular hours.

Dutchess facing $1.5 million SNAP bill

Dutchess and Putnam are among the New York counties facing higher costs to process food assistance applications as changes to the federal One Big Beautiful Bill enacted last year begin to take effect.

Beginning Oct. 1, the start of the federal budget year, New York and other states' share of administrative costs for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) will rise from 50 percent to 75 percent.

Because New York is one of three states whose counties pay the administrative costs, the change will shift $100 million in expenses to New York City and $68 million to the rest of the state, according to the New York State Association of Counties. It estimates that Dutchess' costs will rise by $1.5 million and Putnam's by $273,000.

Because the One Big Beautiful Bill passed in July 2025, six months before Dutchess passed its 2026 budget, the county folded the extra costs for this October, November and December into its spending plan. But for 2027, "there will be difficult decisions ahead," said Colleen Pillus, a county spokesperson.

Kevin Byrne, Putnam's executive, said that "whatever changes come from Washington with regards to SNAP, our administration stands ready to adapt, meet our responsibilities and ensure there is no disruption in delivering these critical services."

Another change scheduled for Oct. 1, 2027, will increase pressure on counties to improve the accuracy of their SNAP approvals. After that date, the federal government will penalize states for payment errors exceeding 6 percent by reducing its share of the benefits distributed to recipients.

Based on New York's error rate, which was 12.35 percent in 2025, the federal government will reduce funds sent to the state for food assistance by $1.1 billion, according to calculations by the NYSAC.

While the federal government "says an error equals fraud," according to Stephen Acquario, NYSAC's executive director, they are generally "reporting errors" related to people changing jobs or working more hours, and delayed paperwork. "We don't process things fraudulently," he said.

What SNAP Can Buy

Fruits and vegetables

Meat, poultry and fish

Dairy products

Breads and cereals

Snack foods

Non-alcoholic beverages

Seeds and plants that produce food

What SNAP Cannot Buy

Beer, wine and liquor

Cigarettes and tobacco

Food and drinks containing controlled substances such as cannabis

Vitamins, medicines and supplements

Live animals (except shellfish and fish removed from water)

Foods that are hot at point of sale

Pet food

Cleaning supplies and paper products

Hygiene products or cosmetics

Source: U.S. Food and Nutrition Administration. Twelve states, not including New York, no longer allow "junk food" such as soda and candy to be purchased with food stamps.

Acquario said that state legislators and Gov. Kathy Hochul could cut benefits, pay the error-rate penalty from state funds or enact legislation to force counties to contribute. "That would blow every county's property-tax cap," which is a mandated limit on how much counties can raise taxes each year, he said.

The increases parallel other changes. Beginning on March 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill eliminated exemptions from SNAP work requirements for "able-bodied" adults between 55 and 64 years old, homeless people, parents with dependents between 14 and 18, those 24 and younger who have aged out of the foster care system and veterans.

New York counties "are being asked to monitor more people, explain more rules, process more documentation and preserve program integrity with less federal support," according to NYSAC.

Enrollment in SNAP for June, the most recent month available, was 2.7 million statewide, including 15,996 residents in Dutchess and 2,859 in Putnam.

On Aug. 6, Sabrina Marzouka, commissioner of the Dutchess County Department of Community and Family Services, told the Legislature that verifying recipients are complying with the work rules and increased scrutiny of benef...

Financial literacy, climate lessons added to curriculum

Public school students in the Highlands will begin seeing changes this year and next as New York State implements "transformations" to its required curriculum and graduation standards.

Most noticeable for the 2026-27 school year, which began this week at Haldane and Garrison and starts Tuesday (Sept. 8) in Beacon, will be the requirement that incoming ninth graders receive financial literacy instruction before they graduate. The requirement was approved in March by the Board of Regents, a 17-member panel elected by state legislators to oversee public schools.

Topics such as budgeting, credit, debt and risk management and investing may be taught either in a standalone class, which Beacon High School will introduce this month, or as lessons in other courses, which is Haldane's approach in math and economics. Instruction may also be provided through career and technical education programming. Financial literacy must now be integrated into the curriculum for grades 5 through 8 and, beginning next year, for K-4.

Another change will require schools, beginning in 2027-28, to provide climate education for grades 5 through 12, and K-4 the following year. As with financial literacy, districts will have the option of a standalone class or embedding the topic.

In Beacon, Superintendent Matt Landahl said the district is leaning toward incorporating climate into science classes, which "we already do, to some degree." Haldane has done the same in its environmental science and biology courses, said Julia Sniffen, the high school principal.

At the same time, the Regents are weighing what the state calls the Four Transformations. In July 2025, the board approved the first, the Portrait of a Graduate model. It says graduating seniors must be (1) academically prepared, (2) creative innovators, (3) critical thinkers, (4) effective communicators, (5) global citizens and (6) reflective and future-focused.

Coursework must demonstrate a student's proficiency in each attribute. In some instances, one project can satisfy more than one attribute. For example, an intern for a local newspaper who reports and writes articles could satisfy the communication and academic preparedness requirements, said Sagrario Rudecindo-O'Neill, the assistant superintendent of curriculum and student support for the Beacon district.

The portrait defines "what every kid who walks across the stage [to graduate] should be able to do," she said. "It's like a north star."

A graphic prepared by the state shows the six attributes around a center labeled "culturally responsive-sustaining education," which, the image notes, builds "strong, respectful relationships, valuing diverse perspectives as essential to a rigorous, inclusive learning community."

Twenty-six states have adopted a Portrait of a Graduate or similar models, according to America Succeeds, a research and advocacy group. In 2019, New York created a Blue Ribbon Commission on Graduation Measures, which produced a 2023 report with recommendations that were distilled into the Four Transformations. Rudecindo-O'Neill chaired a commission committee that organized discussion forums for educators and the public.

The other three transformations are still under review by the Board of Regents. One would redefine the 22 credits required for graduation, shifting from "seat time" to a "competency-based structure." It would also add a requirement for high school students to earn a credit in career and technical education.

Another transformation would remove the requirement that students pass standardized Regents exams, which have been in place since the late 19th century and are designed to measure competency in English, math, science and social studies. Since the early 2000s, students have been required to score 65 or higher on at least five tests to graduate.

Federal law requires that the state give the tests, but if the change is approved, students could opt for a school-cr...

Open Space Institute begins resiliency planning

David Lilburne still remembers when Superstorm Sandy brought the river to his bookstore on Garrison's Landing in October 2012, on the heels of another storm.

"The old tide didn't go out, the new tide came in on the old tide, and then we had a bloody big storm off Manhattan," he recalled, sitting in Antipodean Books, Maps & Prints, which he owns with his wife, Cathy. "They predicted it. They said, 'Mega storm coming, be careful.' "

During past flooding, as much as 3 feet of water had entered the basement, where books are stored, so the couple cleared the bottom shelves and went home, satisfied. Later, tenants in a house on the Landing called to say it was filling up, even with high tide four hours away.

When Lilburne returned, he found the water wasn't coming from the river, but through the concrete floor.

The next several hours were a blur, he said. A dozen community members helped him clear the basement — "We had a conga line" — while the oil tanks broke free from their pipes and dumped their contents into the floodwaters. "Now we had a toxic waste site," he said.

Sandy was an extreme storm, but it isn't the only one to cause serious flooding at Garrison's Landing and its riverfront park. Peter Karis of the Open Space Institute says flooding in the privately owned neighborhood, located on the west side of the Metro-North tracks, will increase in size and frequency. A report issued in 2024 predicted that climate change will bring longer droughts throughout the state, punctuated by more intense storms and more severe flooding.

Karis and OSI President Erik Kulleseid, who grew up in Philipstown, held an informal discussion at Antipodean last month during the bookstore's regular Friday night community gathering about how to protect the Landing from flooding.

"We got some great questions," Karis said about the event, which was co-hosted by the Garrison's Landing Association and Garrison Station Plaza Inc. "People are engaged."

The Open Space Institute is raising $100,000 to hire an engineering firm, Greenman-Pedersen, to create plans for the Landing. If they are completed within the next year, Karis said OSI will apply for funding from the state's latest Environmental Bond Act, passed in 2022, to pay for the upgrades.

It's a first for OSI. After decades of preserving lands and parks, conservation groups across the country find themselves having to protect those same places from the effects of climate change.

OSI has a long history with Garrison's Landing, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. "We have a public-access easement that covers the park and a route to get to the train platform, so that the public has the right to explore the park and get to the waterfront," Karis said. "It's in our interest to make sure that this park is around for a long time."

There are local examples to draw from: Native plantings and boulders were placed on the shore of Dockside Park in Cold Spring by the state to harden the coast without looking artificial. In the wake of Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Sandy in 2012, Scenic Hudson buffered Long Dock Park in Beacon with spongy marshes which soak up and redirect floodwaters.

"We need to make Garrison's Landing sustainable," said Lilburne. "Will it still flood? Yes. Will it wash away? No."

Take bigger role in ethics board, spending

The Putnam Legislature reshaped the balance of power in county government on Tuesday (Sept. 1), voting itself authority to appoint most of the Board of Ethics and take a bigger role in spending surplus revenues.

Legislators voted 8-0 to strip the county executive of the power to nominate all five members of the Board of Ethics, with Toni Addonizio abstaining because she is the subject of an ethics complaint. The law retains two nominations for the county executive and allots one each to the full Legislature, its chair and its minority leader — currently Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley and is the lone Democrat.

The new appointees will serve shorter terms — two years instead of three — and county employees, elected officials, lobbyists and officeholders in a political party are ineligible. Members may be removed for cause only with a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, and only after being given the opportunity to respond to a written notice of termination.

If all nine legislators are from the same party, they will choose the nominee designated for the minority party. All five nominees, including the two retained by the county executive, must be confirmed by a majority of the Legislature.

County Executive Kevin Byrne must hold a public hearing no later than 20 days after receiving the legislation and approve or veto it within 25 days. But unless three legislators change their support, the Legislature has the six votes to override a veto.

Legislators also approved a resolution rescinding a 14-year-old policy that allowed the finance commissioner to allocate surplus funds and another asking the state Comptroller's Office to audit how Putnam spends excess revenues.

After the policy was adopted in 2012, Putnam's budget surplus swelled from $33.9 million to $191 million in 2024 because of "over-appropriation, underestimation of revenues and increased sales tax receipts and other revenues," according to the policy resolution, which won unanimous approval.

While state law prohibits school officials from accumulating surpluses that exceed 4 percent of their budgets, cities, counties, towns, villages and fire districts are allowed to carry over a "reasonable amount" of unrestricted funds.

Some of Putnam's funds have been shifted to "artificial allocations" that never get spent, said Dan Birmingham, who chairs the Legislature. He highlighted an account for "future capital projects" that he said has not fallen below $15 million over four years.

Money is being "allocated by one person outside of public scrutiny," he said. "If we take this ability back to this legislature, not to say we're always going to get it right, but at least we'll do it in public, and it'll be subject to public scrutiny and public comment."

Enough legislators voted for the resolution to override a veto. In May, Byrne said that nearly $28 million of Putnam's surplus has been spent since 2021. He and the Legislature applied $13.2 million to this year's budget, including the $6.5 million sought by legislators for tax relief.

This year is also the first in which Putnam is sharing sales-tax revenue with its towns and villages. Philipstown will receive $169,000, and Cold Spring and Nelsonville the minimum $50,000 each, from $2.3 million. The money, which is allocated based on population, is restricted to infrastructure projects.

"This is funding that otherwise would have remained in the county's general fund," said Byrne. "It is now helping our local partners invest in infrastructure, public works and taxpayer relief in their own communities."

The audit request, which asks the comptroller to help "determine whether Putnam County officials effectively manage the county's fund balance," will not be submitted to Byrne for his approval.

A mix-up in publishing a legal notice in the Putnam County Press led legislators to approve revisions to the county's official newspaper designation and notice ...