Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Ben Westcott , Chronicle Staff Writer
The Washington County Board of Supervisors approved a 2026 budget that increases the property tax levy by 16.97% and cuts 10 full-time and 12 part-time county jobs.
“I feel particularly horrible about this entire process,” said Board Chair Robert Henke (Argyle). “This has been a terrible sort of deal for everybody, and I certainly feel as strongly for employees as anybody, and invoking the retired people trying to stay in their house that are 75 years old — I know one, right here (himself). I’m still working a couple of jobs to keep it going, so I certainly feel on the taxpayer’s side as well. I don’t think I could vote for or against this budget and feel good.”
Only four supervisors voted no on the budget: Dana Hogan (Kingsbury), Scott Hahn (Hartford), Dan Shaw (Easton) and John Rozell (Whitehall).
Mr. Hogan told The Chronicle, “I think there’s more cuts that could be made.”
Prior to the budget vote, he brought forward a resolution to sunset health insurance coverage for county supervisors as of Dec. 31, 2026, so that incoming supervisors in 2027 would no longer be covered under the County Health Insurance Plan.
He said the move would save the county $4 million over 10 years.
“Would you like to have $4 million in your fund balance today?” he asked County Treasurer Al Nolette.
“Kill for it,” Mr. Nolette responded.
The motion ultimately failed in a close vote. Voting to eliminate health insurance for incoming supervisors were Mr. Hogan, Mr. Hahn, Mr. Shaw, Darrell Wilson (Putnam), Catherine Fedler (Cambridge), Charles Tall (Dresden) and James Nolan (Greenwich).
“I’m still disappointed that we have health insurance paid for part-time supervisors,” Supervisor Hogan told The Chronicle afterwards. “We shouldn’t be doing that.” He said the supervisors who voted against his proposed resolution “ought to be ashamed of themselves.”
Putnam’s Mr. Wilson said of the budget overall, “Although I don’t like the percent increase, having been a part of this process, it’s where we finally got to. And we iterated this multiple times, we had a lot of involvement and feedback from the public. We reconsidered some actions and considered new ones based on that feedback. I think it’s the best compromise we have right now to all the competing interests that we’ve heard from the public over the past couple months,” he said.
Mr. Hahn objects to the job cuts. “All the positions at this county were approved by this board. They had a reason. And one thing that I don’t think has been taken into consideration when we talk about that is the services those positions provide. Many of them are mandated, many of them are partially funded. And I’m not going to support this budget with any layoffs.”
He advocated for further time to amend the budget proposal. “I look at it like we have another month to work on this,” he said. “And as long as people’s livelihood is on the line, I say we take that month.”
Mr. Shaw also voted no, telling The Chronicle after the meeting, “I believe there could have been more cuts. I believe the supervisors are not putting the taxpayers first.”
“And that’s why I’m leaving,” he added, noting that he chose not to run for re-election. “I don’t feel like I’m accomplishing anything anymore.”
During the meeting, another ‘no’ vote, Supervisor Rozell, said, “We have to keep an eye closer on the departments. Cut down on our spending. That’s got to be done so that we survive this next year.”
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