Last week the Ulster County legislature by unanimous vote approved a six-month moratorium on creating new county government jobs.

Yes, this legislature. Imagine that.

Proponents said that the county has created almost 100 new positions since 2023, which accounts for over $6 million in salary and $3 million in benefits. The latter figure confirms the very generous benefits that county workers enjoy, something like 50 percent over salary.

County Executive Jen Metzger was quick to respond, saying that she would "add jobs if they are needed.” She further said to the reporter essentially that her budget was her business and the legislative budget is its own business.

To my ear, Metzger was flipping the bird to the legislature, but a spokesperson told me that wasn't exactly what she meant.

County legislators, since the Executive Era began in 2010, have routinely rubberstamped executive budgets. This despite legislators claiming "they hold the purse strings of county government." This plays well on the campaign trail, but, as a practical matter, it is simply not so.

Fortunately for Democrats, they have 12 districts where their candidates are unopposed, meaning they will hold the majority regardless of what happens in November.

The history of executive dominance of county fiscal affairs is revealing.

I was at the County Office Building shortly after the 2009 elections when Democrat Mike Hein, then the county administrator, was elected to his first term as county executive.

I noticed that some legislators and Hein were sitting around a table at a side office. Being a nosy reporter, I stuck my nose in the doorway. A legislator motioned me to a chair against the side wall.

At that point, Legislator Fred Wadnola (R-Town of Ulster) was discussing procedures that would take place in budget preparation in the new government. He asked Hein, rather politely I thought, if the legislature "could have a seat at the table, maybe the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee."

Hein, with that half-smile that would become familiar during his more than nine years in office, said, "No. You can have the budget when we are done with it and then you can do what you want with it."

Wadnola blinked a few times, turned to his fellow legislators for support, and then getting none, shrugged.

One can only wonder who will blink first in this unprecedented case of chicken between the legislature and the executive. My prediction is that with a safe majority after the election, this will, with the sheep safely inside their pen, all return to business as usual. And that's too baaaaaaad for the taxpayers.

There is, however, a cloud hanging over the county's fiscal future that almost nobody except County Comptroller March Gallagher is talking about publicly.

In recent years the executives have recommended very large drawdowns from the fund balance in order to balance budgets. In 2026 it was over $30 million. The comptroller recently reported that the real fund balance, not the $100 million widely reported, is closer to $18 million.

It's not raining yet but it is getting damp.

Fun With Pat and Jackie

Jackie Auringer, Republican candidate for Congress against two-term incumbent Pat Ryan, probably won't get 45 percent of the vote in November given the demographics in the 18th Congressional District. But at least she's making her opponent work a little harder.

Auringer recently brought attention to Ryan's sale of some stocks he bought a few years before he went into Congress. The Ryan campaign said that Ryan has not traded in stocks since going to Congress, but his own congressional disclosure forms, according to media reports, indicate that he sold between $15,000 and $50,000 in July 2024.

As a matter of fact, someone who buys or sells stocks is by definition a trader.

It's interesting how campaign discourse has changed in recent years and not only the web. It used to be that a spokesperson for a candidate was identified by name. Now it's something called "the campaign,” like it’s Windsor Castle or the White House.

Let it be said for the Metzger administration that her spokesperson has a name and a phone number and an e-mail and whatever and she returns messages.

In another note on Ryan's campaign, the congressman recently on Facebook called on donors to supply him with $150,000 so he can pursue some campaign initiatives. According to the federal Elections Commission, Ryan already has $3 million on hand.