State funding es Town of Wallkill from layoffs and tax hikes

Town of Wallkill officials said a $4 million state-budget infusion stopped a financial collapse that could have erased about 97 jobs, slashed police, public works and parks staffing, and forced a property-tax increase. The threatened cuts were unusually deep: roughly 70 percent of the police department, 70 percent of the Department of Public Works and 90 percent of the parks department were on the line.

The rescue was announced Monday, June 8, when Sen. James Skoufis and Assemblymember Paula Elaine Kay joined town officials to say each had secured $2 million in the final New York state budget. For Wallkill, the money arrived after months of strain and gave the town immediate breathing room to keep basic services operating.

Supervisor Frank DenDanto III said the town was facing “a significant budgetary shortfall” caused by “years of fiscal mismanagement.” Town officials had identified major financial shortfalls in January, tied to longstanding irregularities in the municipality’s fiscal structure, and DenDanto had already warned that reserve funds could run out. Without the state money, the town said residents would have seen sharp reductions in police coverage, road work, parks upkeep and other day-to-day services that define whether local government is functioning.

The pressure was not abstract. By late April, Wallkill had already cut the 2026 police and Department of Public Works budgets by 20 percent and left four police officer positions vacant. Those moves showed how close the town had come to running out of options before Albany stepped in.

The town’s finances were also under a cloud after former state auditor Tobias Otieno pleaded guilty in February 2026 to stealing $405,843 from Town of Wallkill while working on a state audit of the town. Orange County officials said Otieno had access to town bank accounts and financial documents and transferred money from town accounts to his personal business accounts.

Skoufis and Kay’s intervention bought Wallkill time, but it did not erase the underlying problem. DenDanto said the town would use the relief to repair prior fiscal mismanagement, and the aid was structured as emergency support in the final state budget, not a permanent fix. For Wallkill taxpayers, the next budget cycle will show whether Albany’s rescue stabilized the town or only postponed the reckoning.