Washington County Board of Supervisors votes to repeal prior local law that enabled tax-cap override

The Washington County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 13 voted to repeal a local law it had enacted last year that had authorized overriding the New York State tax-cap for the county budget. The repeal passed after supervisors aired concerns that keeping the override in place could expose the county to withheld state aid or other fiscal penalties and could impose unpredictable local sharing costs for child welfare placements and assigned counsel.

Board members debated the rationale and timing for the repeal across an extended public discussion. Several supervisors said the original override vote had been a symbolic or protest action taken in the context of uncertainty about state aid; others said keeping the override in place risked substantial local costs and that the board should avoid making budget decisions driven by political messaging. One board member said the county had already spent advertising money tied to the earlier local law and that repealing it would require additional publication costs.

During the discussion supervisors repeatedly warned that potential local-share costs for placements under state child-welfare agencies or for assigned counsel could be substantial and difficult to project; one supervisor cited an $82 figure for a probation cost and said the assigned-counsel overrun had already contributed materially to the county’s mid-year budget gap. Several members urged caution about mixing county policy with state-level political statements that could produce direct costs to taxpayers.

A motion to repeal the local law was made and seconded; the motion carried on a recorded voice vote