Mount Hope cancels Junior Police Academy, trims recreation funding after county fuel tax cap cuts sales tax revenue

Mount Hope — The Mount Hope Town Board voted July 6 to amend its 2026 budget after Orange County approved a motor-fuel sales tax cap that reduces shared sales-tax revenue to municipalities.

The board approved a resolution that cancels the town’s 2026 Junior Police Academy and reduces appropriations for youth recreation and parks and recreation equipment. The town read an estimate from county materials that Mount Hope will lose $1,772.40 per month in shared sales-tax receipts as a result of the county action.

Why it matters: County legislators capped the county’s gas-tax distribution to municipalities for a portion of the year; town officials said the change creates an immediate revenue shortfall that must be offset either by reductions to services or higher property taxes. In a written statement read aloud at the meeting, Orange County Legislator Janet Sland said she opposed the county vote and warned the action shifts costs to local governments. “I voted no,” the statement said, criticizing the majority for what she described as prioritizing public perception over municipal fiscal impacts.

What the board approved: The resolution directs town officials to implement budget amendments to offset reduced revenue. It lists three headline actions with the amounts read aloud during the meeting: cancel the 2026 Junior Police Academy (estimated savings $4,400), reduce the appropriation for youth recreation by $500, and reduce the parks and recreation equipment appropriation by $2,190. The transcript as read at the meeting shows a garbled total for the reductions; the line items above were read clearly and sum to $7,090. The board approved the resolution by voice vote.

Board discussion and context: Board members described the county action as a cost shift. One board member summarized the tradeoff: short-term pump relief for motorists versus a full loss of shared municipal revenue that cannot easily be replaced under state law. Several members said they had already budgeted the anticipated revenue and had to identify cuts now that the county chart showed a midyear shortfall for Mount Hope.

Other details: The resolution directs the town supervisor, bookkeeper, and appropriate officials to make accounting and administrative changes to implement the cuts and to transmit a certified copy of the resolution to the Orange County legislature and the Orange County executive.

Next steps: The board voted to approve the budget changes at the July 6 meeting; officials said the cuts will take effect for the balance of the 2026 fiscal year. The town also signaled it will continue to press county officials for alternatives or compensation in the future.

Quotation: In the county legislator’s written statement read to the board, Janet Sland, Orange County legislator, said: “I’m deeply disappointed by Thursday’s vote to approve the $2.00 gas-tax cap. … I listened to my local leaders and did exactly that. I voted no.”