Courtesy Paul Post
By Paul Post
A section of unused Washington County jail must be kept open and staffed, diverting funds from much-needed programs and services.
More attorneys are required, at considerable expense, because of new bail reform policies.
Money is still being spent on Great Meadow Correctional Facility upgrades despite the prison’s Nov. 6 closing, which eliminated more than 400 jobs, possibly triggering a significant drop in sales tax revenue.
“A lot of regulations that come down from the state somehow cost us money,” county Administrator Melissa R. Fitch said. “The most frustrating part of this job is that we don’t have control of a lot of things we wish we did as far as spending goes.”
Fitch, Board of Supervisors Chairman Robert Henke, of Argyle, and Budget Officer Brian R. Campbell, of Hebron, discussed these and other issues with local business leaders during a recent “Washington County Outlook” presentation hosted by Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce at Sandy Hill Arts Center in Hudson Falls.
The county recently adopted a $141 million budget for 2025, up $9 million from this year’s spending plan. A 2.43 percent property tax increase and $3.85 million worth of fund balance was needed to balance the budget, which has grown by $41 million since 2015. Campbell said 90 percent of expenses are a direct result of various state mandates and rising health insurance and pension costs, giving county officials little room to decide how remaining funds can be allocated for services to benefit local residents.Campbell said he’s particularly concerned about rapidly increased Department of Social Services spending, for both financial and societal reasons.
“We’ve seen our expense for DSS go from $19 million in 2020 to $31 million in 2025,” he said. “To me that’s a ridiculous number for a rural county made up of independent people. I’m not happy with that at all. Every time you increase by $10 million, you put $2.5 million onto your own taxpayers. Why do we enable people instead of just assisting them?”
Henke said bail reform, which took effect Jan. 1, 2020, has been especially troublesome fiscally and with regard to public safety. The policy has led to a substantial reduction in jail incarceration, driven by a decline in pre-trial admissions for low-level and nonviolent charges such as stalking, assault without serious injury, burglary, many drug offenses and some categories of arson and robbery.
“Whole sections of the jail aren’t used because obviously with bail reform we aren’t putting people in jail any more,” Henke said. “They’re arrested and released because it’s not a violent crime. We’ve gone to the state and said, ‘Hey can we close this one whole pod? We don’t need it.’ They’ve said, ‘No you have to keep it open and keep a certain number of staff on.’ So we’ve got correction officers over there guarding an empty pod.”
“It’s just money down a rat hole that we could do good things with,” he said. “We can’t because of state mandates.”
Campbell said, “The way the state sees it, incarceration and slavery are the same thing. It’s going to take a lot of elections to change things. We need to swing the pendulum back.”
Fitch said the state Department of Corrections stonewalled county officials who sought reasons for the Great Meadow prison closure. The department told the county to do an economic impact study, but “the decision had already been made,” she said.
“It was just another hoop we had to go through for them,” Fitch said.
Fitch said county officials also sought cooperation from the state to help prison employees find new jobs locally, to keep money in Washington County. But the department tried to “strong arm” prison workers into taking transfers, rather than finding alternative employment, she said.
“They didn’t care if it was a three- or six-hour drive,” she said. “It was frustrating because we wanted to keep them in the county.”
Fitch said previously-approved capital projects at Great Meadow are continuing despite the facility’s closure.
“Right now there’s no plan (for its reuse),” Henke said. “I don’t see anything happening.”
On another front, the county obtained $30 million in sales tax revenue this year, or 3 percent of the roughly $1 billion worth of countywide sales activity. Campbell said this is a somewhat surprising figure for a mostly rural county with limited retail centers. But an increasingly large amount of sales activity now comes from online shopping, a trend accelerated by the corona virus pandemic that kept people home.
Early this year, Laura Oswald filled a newly-created position as director of economic development, planning and tourism.While small in comparison to Saratoga and Warren counties, Washington County tourism is on the rise and generates an estimated $7.5 million in occupancy tax revenue.
Oswald said the county recently won two statewide tourism awards and that plans are ramping up for the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026, and related Revolutionary War observances. “We have a lot of history in this area,” she said. “A lot of that activity happened in Washington County and we want people to know about it.”
Henke said tourism data is somewhat difficult to track because Washington County has few overnight lodging establishments, and no well-known brand name motels or hotels in particular.But he said many people, including out-of-state visitors, are attracted to some of the county’s specialty food stores and include dining and retail shopping in such trips.
“There’s all kinds of ancillary stuff like that,” he said. “People are coming here.”
In addition, the local economy benefits from people who own seasonal second homes in Washington County because of its proximity to ski centers in nearby Vermont and Warren County, he said.Washington County Fair is the state’s third largest county fair and agritourism plays a major role, too, generating large numbers of visits to apple orchards, maple syrup producers and special events such as sheep and goat farm tours.
“When I started working for the county 12 years ago, I remember conversations between the chairman at the time and supervisors; really there were some who didn’t think Washington County had any tourism and would never have tourism and here we are,” Fitch said. “It’s growing. You can see the ads Laura has worked hard to create with Black Dog Designs. It makes you pretty proud of the area where you live.”