Dutchess County voters face a question this November: Who should watch the money — Republican Will Truitt, the Chair of the County Legislature who helped craft the county’s $630 million budget, or Democrat Dan Aymar-Blair, the auditor who’s been searching for waste?
Aymar-Blair, who defeated Republican Gregg Pulver in a 2024 special election for County Comptroller, said his first year in office has been about “turning the lights on” in county finance: “The promises that I made when I ran last year was that I would increase the output of the office and do more financial reporting. We are on track to produce more reporting than ever before.”
Aymar-Blair said he has hosted public town halls, released video summaries of audits, and made reports easier for residents to read. “The county has a healthy financial position,” he said, though he is not always happy with what he sees, “It achieves that by doing very little for the people.”
Aymar-Blair said the county’s strong balance sheet masks inefficiency and missed opportunities. He cited the $4.8 million purchase of Camp Nooteeming in Pleasant Valley — that he said is “owned by the county but not accessible to the public” — as an example of waste.
At an Oct. 13 Meet the Candidates forum in Pine Plains, Aymar Blair said since taking office last January he has discovered $45 million in wasteful spending. “Every dollar of county spending should benefit the people,” he said. “You don’t have to raise taxes to do more — you just have to beat the waste out of the system.”
Truitt has helped pass the budgets Aymar-Blair now audits. A five-term Legislator from Hyde Park with a background in finance, he is currently pursuing his MBA from Marist University. Having served in the Legislature for 10 years, Truitt is nearing his 12-year term limit.
Truitt said he believes Dutchess County’s fiscal performance speaks for itself. “At the end of 2024, we had about $104 million in our fund balance,” he said. “We have a AA+ bond rating…. All those things considered, we are doing a pretty damn good job at managing our finances in Dutchess County.”
Aymar-Blair argues that Truitt’s leadership role in shaping those budgets makes him ill-suited to audit them. “All of the projects that I am looking at were voted on by Mr. Truitt,” he said. “He doesn’t have the independence that I have.”
Truitt rejects that view. “My number one duty and responsibility is to the taxpayers,” he said. “I will always put political party and relationships aside.”