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Columbia County board elects Matt Ferrell chair; new leadership outlines 2026 budget and projects
Summary
After electing Matt Ferrell as permanent chair, the board heard a chairs address summarizing 2025 accomplishments, the passed 2026 budget (1.87% tax increase; 4.9% tax-rate decrease), a Moodys upgrade and several infrastructure and personnel moves.
Matt Ferrell was confirmed as the permanent chair of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors during the boards Jan. 2, 2026 meeting, following a roll-call vote that a board official announced as passed.
The board first named Supervisor Craig Simmons temporary chair to preside during the organizational portion of the meeting; nominations for majority and minority leadership were also handled before members opened nominations for permanent chair. "I nominate Matt Ferrell for permanent chair," a supervisor said during the nominations period; a second was recorded and a roll-call vote followed. The chairmanship was announced as passed by the presiding official.
The newly seated chair gave an overview of 2025 accomplishments and outlined priorities for 2026. He said the countys new 9-1-1 center has been completed and "will be fully operational in a few days," and thanked Assemblywoman Edie Barrett for funding support. He reported that the board passed a 2026 budget featuring a 1.87% tax increase alongside a 4.9% reduction in the tax rate. He attributed fiscal improvements to a stable fund balance and conservative budgeting and said Columbia Countys Moodys credit rating was upgraded from "AA3" to "AA2," a change the chair said will save the county money on interest payments.
The chair reviewed capital and infrastructure work: in 2025 the highway department completed culvert replacements, shoulder reconstruction and pavement recycling and repaved about 11.2 miles of county roads. For 2026 he said the county plans roughly 6.5 miles of repaving (including County Route 29 in Greenport and County Route 21 in Ghent and Hillsdale) funded by the New York State CHIPS grant program, and identified a $400,000 New York State DOT roadway safety grant to replace a guardrail on County Route 29. He also listed three bridge projects completed in 2025 and ongoing design work on additional culverts and bridge sites.
The chair said ARPA funds previously allocated to the county have been spent or committed and identified pending projects that include a water tower to serve Commerce Park, a proposed Ghent nursing-home project, and a county "Wellness Hub." The countys land bank, he said, will be acquiring its first properties, and he praised the Columbia County Housing Task Force and local economic development staff for earning a pro-housing designation across the countys municipalities.
Several personnel changes and retirements were announced: 9-1-1 director Robert Lopez will be replaced by Kevin Johnson; Real Property director Suzette Bowie will be succeeded by Mark Taylor; Sheriff Don Craft will be replaced by Jackie Salvatore. The chair said CDC director Michael Tucker will retire in June and thanked him for his service. He also said the board will appoint a committee of supervisors, staff and citizens to explore hiring a county administrator.
The chair announced deputy-chair appointments for the year and asked the clerk to read a set of resolutions for adoption; a board member offered the resolutions and the chair confirmed they were adopted by voice vote. Later in the meeting the Republican and Democratic parties named Timmy Lyle deputy majority leader and Richard Wolf deputy minority leader, respectively. The meeting concluded after a motion to adjourn carried.
What happened next: the board moved to a short recess during organizational appointments and returned to adopt resolutions and complete other organizational business.
Votes and formal actions at a glance: an initial voice vote approved Supervisor Craig Simmons as temporary chair; a subsequent roll-call vote confirmed Matt Ferrell as permanent chair (the transcript indicates the vote passed but individual vote tallies were not clearly recorded in the available transcript); a set of 2026 resolutions was read and adopted by voice vote. Specific resolution numbers were read aloud by the clerk during the meeting (several ranges for 2026 were listed), but the transcript does not include full text or detailed vote tallies for each resolution.
