Adopt the 2027 Budget & Special Full Meeting

The Putnam County Legislature’s full meeting on October 28, 2026 (the date stated in the transcript; metadata lists October 29) adopted the county’s 2027 budget after reviewing amendments. The adopted budget set a real-property-tax levy of $32,638,303, compared with the County Executive’s proposed $38,712,312, using additional fund balance to help offset taxes. Procurement- and capital-related actions included a $50,000 increase for the road machinery fund; transferring $200,000 for 34 Gleneida renovations into a capital-reserve line requiring legislative approval for future use; increasing law-department legal-services funding from $350,000 to $400,000; and adding $35,000 toward elevator installation at the Depot Theater, whose project was cited as costing about $350,000. The Legislature also approved a $5 million FY2027 subcontingency placeholder for a proposed $10 million municipal public-works and infrastructure cooperation project; this was a budget reservation, not a final project award. A $7,500 garbage-related subcontingency and a $15,000 increase to Second Chance Foods’ county contribution, bringing it to $35,700, also passed. The proposed health-department nursing position amendments failed.

Other approved changes included a 3% cost-of-living increase of $2,250 for the Putnam Arts Council, creation of a countywide tourism-impact-study subcontingency (discussed as a $15,000 study), and moving $154,965 from the County Executive’s Office to legislative subcontingency for communication services, leaving the eventual service or staffing arrangement for later consideration. The Legislature also approved moving the $75,950 director of compliance and intergovernmental relations position to the Law Department. At the subsequent special full meeting, members approved an amendment to a resolution requesting a traffic and speed-limit study on East Lake Boulevard, aligning its timing with available funding, and approved a Unified Planning Work Program data-collection item. No vendor selection, contract award, or competitive bid approval was identified in the transcript.