October 21, 2026                     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rensselaer County Legislative Democratic Minority Response to County Executive Steve McLaughlin’s 2027 Budget

County Executive McLaughlin released his 2027 budget on Tuesday, October 20, seeking a 7% decrease in the county tax rate. The Rensselaer County Legislative Democratic Minority agrees that the working people of Rensselaer County deserve relief as they struggle with escalating costs in food, fuel and other basics stemming from Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs and reckless war in Iran.

But the minority has questions and concerns about the Executive’s budget proposals.

*Staffing shortages in certain departments are at crisis levels – the Department of Social Services has over 80 vacant positions and staff are overwhelmed. Meanwhile the unhoused and economically disadvantaged are abandoned.

*The County Executive’s budget conveniently ignores the proposed 30% sewer rent increases, over the next three years – a burden that will fall most heavily on the working people of Rensselaer and Troy and will effectively wipe out any savings from the county’s tax “decrease”.

*The budget conveniently ignores increased administrative costs for SNAP, taking effect starting January 2027, a program families depend on for food.  In his budget address, the County Executive tried to pin this increase on Governor Hochul. The blame for this cost shift rests with Trump and the congressional Republicans, who enacted the “Big Beautiful Bill” in 2025.

“This problem is a direct result of HR 1 and Donald Trump’s cruelty and disregard for hungry families in Rensselaer County,” said Deputy Minority Leader Nina Nichols. “The county budget must address the harm it causes to working families that depend on this program to eat,” Nichols added.