With fiscal storm clouds looming, Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger yesterday announced an unapologetically ambitious 2027 budget including innovative new programs in many areas.

The price tag on the package is $519.7 million, a 4.7 percent increase from 2026, part of which Metzger proposes to address with a “modest” (her word) 1.5 percent increase in property taxes.

“We have kept property taxes flat for many years, even as economy-wide costs have risen year after year,” Metzger said. “This is simply no longer sustainable and has compounding effects on our finances.” She estimates the impact “for many homeowners” will be “about $20.”

As examples of those “economy-wide costs,” Metzger cited “major federal cuts to SNAP and Medicaid … the U.S. war on Iran, which is driving up fuel costs for heating our buildings, powering our vehicles … escalating information technology costs driven by the AI industry's global impact on prices … higher costs for bridge repairs and other capital projects due to tariffs and the trade war with Canada.”

In addition to those costs, Metzger cited “a $1.47 million increase in state retirement costs, an additional $1.4 million in mandated safety net costs, an estimated $3.2 million increase in healthcare costs.”

Cost-saving measures in the new budget were headlined by “carefully balancing staffing needs,” Metzger said. Noting the Ulster County Legislature's passage earlier this year of Resolution 457, a freeze on creating new county positions, Metzger said her budget “goes further by reducing the total number of funded positions.” Specifically, by eliminating 13 positions while adding six new “either state or federally funded or essential” positions for a net reduction of seven.

“We're also taking a hard look at overtime,” Metzger said, citing County Comptroller March Gallagher's report that overtime increased by nearly 30 percent from 2022 to 2025.

“It's important to keep in mind that for certain types of work, overtime is an operational necessity for reasons of public safety,” Metzger said, mentioning sheriff's personnel, DPW road crews, and emergency services, which rank first, second, and third in overtime spending.

“A special case,” Metzger said, is corrections, where state law dictates staffing levels. “The continued shortage of corrections officers has meant a lot of mandated overtime, which is stressful for our officers and their families, and costly for taxpayers.”

“A new salary plan and new labor contract should help fill corrections vacancies and reduce the need for overtime,” Metzger said. As a result, “In this budget, we have cut overtime by nearly 4 percent from 2026 and anticipated $250,000 in savings from 2026 adopted budget levels.”

Domestic violence is the focus of two items in the budget. Noting the county legislature's recent adoption of a lethality assessment protocol policy for law enforcement, Metzger proposes the creation of a domestic violence task force, including survivors, advocates and officials, “to get direct input into gaps in our system, our prevention and protection.”

Additionally, in light of a shortage of safe housing alternatives for domestic violence victims, Metzger recommends that the county's next round of Housing Action Fund grants incentivize housing for survivors. As she put it, “No one should feel trapped with an abuser because they have no affordable place to go.”

Full-Service DMV in Ellenville, and Other Highlights

On access to services, the budget includes the creation of a full-service DMV office at the Trudy Farber Center in Ellenville. The proposal says the office will begin operating in mid-2027 and will reorganize DMV services by retiring the mobile DMV bus, which currently operates on Wednesdays behind Wawarsing Town Hall. The goal is to expand services and improve the overall experience for DMV customers.

On housing insecurity, since “we will continue to need some level of motel placements,” Metzger said, the budget includes a new emergency housing coordinator who “will work directly with hotel and motel management, make regular on-site visits to inspect conditions, and coordinate the county's response when problems arise.”

On housing affordability, the budget lines for the Housing Action Fund include a dedicated workforce housing category. “The people who grow our food, build and repair our homes, care for our seniors, and respond when we call for help,” Metzger said, “should always be able to live in the community that they serve.”

On youth employment, Metzger announced the Ulster Youth Work Academy, a 24-week program developed by county Director of Employment and Training Sharon Williams, to provide “mentorship, coaching, skill building, and paid hands-on job experience in partnership with local employers.” Cost to taxpayers? Zilch. The NoVo Foundation has committed to pick up the tab.

On childcare which, Metzger said, “somehow has become a weapon in the culture wars, we are not going back to the 1950s,” the budget includes a pilot program – co-designed with Legislator Lindsey Grossman -- to help aspiring providers with the training and certification to run a home-based child care program.

On kratom, an often-dangerous herbal drug that’s not currently regulated at the state level, the budget includes a Department of Mental Health public education campaign paid for by $25,000 in opioid settlement funds.

On e-bikes, the misuse of which has become a public safety issue, “We need better enforcement,” Metzger said, “but we also need a lot more education.” That's to be addressed by an “e-bike safety campaign” involving the sheriff's office, the Ulster County Traffic Safety Board and others.

On food insecurity, the budget includes emergency food system grants to local pantries and the creation of “victory gardens” at community centers, “helping neighbors grow and share fresh, healthy food that stretches household budgets.”

On public recreation, the budget includes $300,000 for renovation of the County Pool Complex in New Paltz.

Underpinning Metzger's budget is a philosophy of governance, one she spelled out in a conclusion that might also have been a preamble.

“Fiscal responsibility and public service are not competing values,” she said. “We save where we can, so we can show up where we must … We cannot control every price increase, every federal cut or every mandate, but we can control how we respond. We can meet rising costs with discipline. We can meet hardship with help, and we can meet uncertainty by showing up for one another. That is how we look out for our neighbors. That is how we take responsibility for one another, and that is what public service is supposed to look like.”