GOSHEN—County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus brought his department heads before a panel of state legislators on March 24 to highlight funding requests that could be included within the 2016-17 state budget.
Assemblyman Karl Brabenec, and representatives of Senator Bill Larkin, Senator John Bonacic, Assemblyman James Skoufis, Assemblyman Frank Skartados, and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther asked for clarification or explained where an initiative was in the budget process.
The panel from Albany listened as the sheriff’s office, office of the district attorney, and department commissioners stated their position on bills before the state legislature, requested funding for key projects, and suggested how to modify state legislation that would benefit public policy in Orange County.
Neuhaus made initial comments to the panel on the county’s opposition to the governor’s minimum wage law and the importance of restoring funding for Safe Homes and the rape crisis center.
Sheriff Carl Dubois was first on deck to ask that 16 and 17-year-olds not be detained in the county jail, reimbursement for monitoring navigation on the county’s expanse of the Hudson River, and for his opposition to a regional, multi-county jail instead of each county having its own jail.
He said detainees should maintain contact with their family and community. A regional facility makes it harder for people in jail to maintain contact with their families. “To create greater distances to see a person that’s in jail, who is definitely going to come back out, will increase the recidivism rate and disconnect prisoners from their families in a time when they need them the most,” Dubois said.
Dubois said that jails are an inappropriate place for mentally ill individuals, most of whom are there for minor offenses. Jail staff cannot forcibly medicate when needed or control people without medication. “The correct atmosphere for them to be in is one that is therapeutic in nature, not a controlled facility like jails,” he said.
Staying Local
General Services Commissioner James Burpoe proposed an increase in the aggregate amount for sealed bids be raised from $20,000 to $75,000 for commodities and for public works contracts from $35,000 to $125,000.
A formal quote could then be kept local and benefit businesses in the county. “That’s really where it comes in. Now you are not dealing with someone out of state submitting a ridiculously low bid and taking the business away from New York or the county,” Burpoe said.
