Orange County Finishes Year 2023 With $49 Million Surplus

The Orange County Government Center in Goshen, N.Y., on Oct. 22, 2022. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Orange County ended the past year with a $49 million surplus in its coffers, according to audited year-end financials presented at the latest Ways and Means legislative meeting.

The bulk of it originated from lower-than-budgeted hirings and higher-than-expected interest earnings, which chipped in $20 million and $8.5 million, respectively, to the surplus.

Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus told The Epoch Times on July 25 that he has put in place a plan to utilize the growing surplus, which covers information technology infrastructure, public safety, office spaces, parks and open space, roads, and the county-run nursing home.

As with any plan, it is a working document and subject to changes as new needs arise, he said.

An $8 million chunk of the surplus, or fund balance, has been set aside for security-related information technology infrastructure upgrades, including a major enhancement to the 911 emergency center.

“Cybersecurity is a major issue right now in the world, not just the American society,” Mr. Neuhaus said, citing a recent software fallout involving the global technology firm CrowdStrike. “We have major concerns about infrastructure, and we are investing in major upgrades.”

The CrowdStrike outage temporarily disrupted certain county functions about a week ago.

A $7 million portion of the fund balance has been earmarked for office space purchases and renovations, a move aimed at getting more county staffers out of leased buildings and into county-owned spaces.

Mr. Neuhaus said $6 million has been set aside for park improvements, including accessibility-related upgrades, drinking water systems for campers, and enhancements to the Heritage Trail.

“We are replacing wooden bridges on the trails over the next few years to allow emergency vehicles like ambulances and fire trucks to pass when somebody has a health emergency,” he said. “So, we are improving accessibility not only to the public but also to the first responders.”

Capital projects, mostly work on county roads and bridges by the public works department, will also get $6 million under the current plan.

Mr. Neuhaus recently reactivated the dormant open space fund with legislative approval, and he has set aside $5 million of the fund balance for the program, which had previously been appropriated $1 million in seed money.

The fund provides grants of up to 50 percent of the costs for the purchase of land or development rights by local governments, nonprofits, and private landowners.

As for the county-owned nursing home Valley View, which has struggled to boost its occupancy rates following the COVID-19 pandemic, $20 million has been set aside to cover the projected operating losses over the next few years, Mr. Neuhaus said.

Until recently, Valley View has been able to stay afloat by using its own savings, but that has come to a limit, and the county might soon need to start subsidizing its operations, he said.

To hedge against the risk that some state aid will not come through as expected, $10 million of the fund balance has been set aside to address any shortfalls.

Earlier this year, Orange County adopted a new policy that sets the unassigned fund balance at no less than 10 percent of the annual expenses; any money above that 10 percent mark at year’s end shall be put into use by the county instead of being left in the bank earning interest.

The unassigned fund balance contains the surplus from past years that has not yet been earmarked for or committed to any spending items.