Committees - Regular Meeting

Monday, October 19, 2026Official site

The Westchester County Budget & Appropriations Committee met to review capital budget presentations, focusing on upcoming infrastructure projects and funding for the Department of Environmental Facilities.

About this meeting

Government Body
Committees
Meeting Type
Committees
Location
Westchester County, NY
Meeting Date
October 19, 2026

Published excerpts

Only published remarks appear here. The full transcript is not published.

11 sections

0:15 – 1:03•Jewel Williams Johnson

THANK YOU. COMMISSIONER, I THOUGHT THAT THE PROJECT THAT WAS AN AD AT THE 2024 for flood mitigation um on the concrete behind 10 county center road and the greenberg uh manhattan book area wasn't that vpl 40. it's a different right because that's county-owned land so it's a different capital project that it's still it's different than vpl 26. it's still active it's still active and So what's the progress or status in that area?

1:26•Jewel Williams Johnson

Okay, that's great. Thank you. But that's separate and apart from the county's work, correct?

2:06 – 2:19•Jewel Williams Johnson

One of the main problem areas is behind 10 County Central Road. And it's from the Manhattan for traveling through Greenberg. All right.

23:32 – 24:10•Erika Pierce

Thank you. So specifically thinking about some of these very large projects, I know we always keep an eye to what this means for the rate payers who are in the district. We know costs overall have been going up, both operating and capital costs, not because of anything we're doing, but because of factors outside of our control, whether it's the cost of chemicals or the construction costs and now interest rates, all those things. So for the very large project in Yonkers, for example, do we have any outside money that might be helping, grant money, anything that we can braid in here to help prot

25:40 – 25:55•Erika Pierce

And I guess to some extent possibly also for the folks with septics, because all that septic effluent is effectively making its way down there, so you could change the fees connected with that, too, if you need. Yes?

26:07 – 26:34•Erika Pierce

So just the last question. So we had a couple of these items where there were cost escalations. I know you're constantly now building into your expectations now cost escalations. So we're not always seeing them as evidently as we would if you have to specifically ask for extra money. But what are we seeing at the current level? RATES? DO WE HAVE A GENERAL SENSE OF HOW MUCH COSTS ARE INCREASING FOR US YEAR AFTER YEAR ON THIS PROJECT AT THIS POINT?

27:16•Erika Pierce

Plus, you have consultants on the clock. Right. Yes.

27:37•Erika Pierce

And everyone we're going to contract with is doing the same math and are giving us higher bids because they are trying to gain what they think they're going to be seeing by the time they get to their project.

28:33•Erika Pierce

Especially as many of these hopeful contractees are no longer holding their bids for a very long period of time, so they don't even have the window to catch up.

28:51 – 29:18•Jewel Williams Johnson

I CAN'T AWARD THE PROJECT AND I HAVE TO WAIT AND REBID IT NOW IT'S GOING TO GET DELAYED IT'S GOING TO GET PUSHED YEAH ALL RIGHT THANK YOU VERY MUCH THANK YOU LEGISLATOR WILLIAM JOHNSON THEN THE MAJORITY WILL GO INTO IT UH THANK YOU MR CHAIR THE UM PROJECT SY 044 FOR THE SOIL GRAVITY FITNESS ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENT FOR THE 80TH UH LOOKS LIKE IT'S PUSHED BACK OUT ANOTHER YEAR BUT THERE'S A

35:32 – 36:18•Erika Pierce

Yeah, and this may be a conversation that we have to reboot with DPW as a starting point. But we had talked a year or two years ago about improving the reporting and having regular reporting to us on capital projects. And we have not seen the fruit of that labor. I don't know if that labor has actually even happened. I know there might have been some IT components to kind of make it all come together. But there was a specific ask and it was, you know, one that I think was well thought out and well received. to have regular reporting for these major capital projects so we can all see without bo

These excerpts are remarks by officials whose identity a person confirmed, from a transcript generated automatically from the official public meeting video and presented unedited. Accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.