Overview
Putnam County's 2026 budget is a $229 million spending plan that includes a $1 million cut to the property-tax levy — described in the release as the largest property-tax cut in county history — and drives the property-tax rate down to $2.39 per $1,000, the lowest in nearly 20 years. For the first time, the budget shares a portion of sales-tax revenues with towns and villages, estimated at about $2.3 million in 2026, and extends tax-free purchases on clothing and shoes under $110 for another year. The plan accounts for approximately $7 million in new spending passed by the Legislature.
Source: Putnam County, County Executive Byrne Signs Budget with Historic Taxpayer Savings (official release).
At a glance — signed budget 2026
Headline budget and taxpayer savings
Figures as stated in the county's signing release. Because the release gives rounded headline figures only, no sum-checked breakdown table is presented.
| Total spending plan, 2026 | $229 million |
| Property-tax levy cut | $1 million |
| Sales-tax revenue sharing (towns and villages) | ~$2.3 million |
| Anticipated benefit, tax-free clothing/shoes under $110 | ~$2.5 million |
| New spending passed by the Legislature | ~$7 million |
The release frames the 2026 budget as the third consecutive Byrne budget providing tax relief, totaling over $10 million in taxpayer savings over three years (over $7.5 million from targeted sales-tax cuts and approximately $2.5 million from levy cuts across FY2024–FY2026), and states long-term debt is cut by 58% by limiting new borrowing. Those multi-year characterizations are the release's own claims and are not independently verified on this page.
Source: Putnam County, County Executive Byrne Signs Budget with Historic Taxpayer Savings.
Elected officials
| County Executive | Kevin Byrne |
Sources & notes
- Only source used: Putnam County, official release, “County Executive Byrne Signs Budget with Historic Taxpayer Savings” (November 7, 2025). County Executive Byrne Signs Budget with Historic Taxpayer Savings.
- Sum checks: none available — the release states rounded headline figures only, so no breakdown is claimed to sum to the $229 million total. No levy dollar figure is shown, because the release states only the $1 million cut, not the resulting levy.
- What is not claimed: no General Fund total, fund breakdown, or tax-rate history beyond the release's own statements is shown; the signed budget resolutions referenced in the release were not separately extracted.
- Jurisdiction palette: no verified Putnam County palette was on file, so this page uses the neutral Hometown Numbers dark-glass theme rather than a county color.