This Election Day, on Nov. 4, one Dutchess County race is taking the spotlight. It’s the position of Dutchess County Comptroller.
The Dutchess County Comptroller is the financial gatekeeper for the county and watchdog of funds.
Democrat and Working Families incumbent Dan Aymar-Blair and Republican and Conservative Will Truitt are running for the position.
In a 2024 special election, Aymar-Blair defeated Gregg Pulver. Pulver had been appointed when Robin Lois stepped down from the position to become the Deputy Comptroller for Local Government and School Accountability under New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in January 2024.
In Dutchess County, early voting will be held Oct. 25 through Nov. 2 at multiple polling locations.
On Election Day, polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. To find your polling location, visit elections.dutchessny.gov.
Here’s what to know about the Dutchess County Comptroller position and candidates.
The candidates, who are listed in alphabetical order, were asked about their background and experience, what they believe are the most pressing issues in the community and their goals if elected.
What does the Dutchess County Comptroller do?
After election day, the newly elected comptroller will begin their four-year term on Jan. 1, 2026, as defined in the Dutchess County Charter.
In Dutchess County, comptrollers can only serve for 12 years total, in three, four-year terms.
The comptroller is the “chief accounting and auditing officer,” according to the charter, for the county.
Nothing financially can happen without the comptroller’s stamp of approval, including payroll for Dutchess County employees and guaranteeing the county is not spending funds it doesn’t have or overspending the budget.
The comptroller records the allocated funds, commitments to funding for the future and expenditures, all while implementing approved methods of accounting for all parts of the county government.
Records are submitted to the county executive and county legislature, too, for transparency within county government. Both branches of government may ask the comptroller to do a report.
As the county’s chief financial gatekeeper, before Dutchess County can legally agree to spend any money, the comptroller must check the budget and records, to establish whether the funds are there, and then certify spending the money.
As the county’s financial watchdog and internal auditor, the comptroller is responsible for thoroughly checking the books of every part of county government that handles money, to detect mismanagement and instill public trust.
Even the formatting of financial documents, like receipts and bills, is the role of the comptroller, for consistency, efficiency and to ensure all the necessary details are there.
Dan Aymar-Blair, candidate for Dutchess County Comptroller
Dan Aymar-Blair moved to Dutchess County in 2013 from New York City with his wife and currently lives in the City of Beacon.
Current Dutchess County Comptroller Aymar-Blair’s professional background is in finance, and he has worked in financial operations in government for 20 years. He also served on the Beacon City Council for five years.
“I’m an active community member and public service is pretty core to who I am,” Aymar-Blair said.
Aymar-Blair emphasized the most pressing issue in the county is the cost of living, and as comptroller it’s his role to ensure residents know how far their taxes are going.
The comptroller does not deal with policymaking, Aymar-Blair said, but if reelected, he can continue to take on affordability by looking at it from a “different angle,” which may include informational reporting to address a variety of issues related to costs.
“What I’m always thinking about,” Aymar-Blair said, is how to make locals more informed about the information in the county budget of interest to them, and how “their taxpayer dollars are being used.”
His focus and goals are transparency, accessibility and being nonpartisan.
In the past year, he said he’s engaged in town halls, added a glossary of terms to their reports so people can better understand them, and started creating videos on Instagram.
Most people don’t have time to read a 25-page comptroller report, he said, but “maybe they have 90 seconds to get the highlights in a video.”
“I really see the comptroller’s office as dealing with public information, which is a public good, and it’s a priority to return that information to the public,” Aymar-Blair said.
He additionally noted the county’s promise to replace the YMCA of Dutchess County with the Youth Opportunity Union or YOU, which has not materialized.
Aymar-Blair’s office shared the history of the project with the hope they can “redirect” the county’s attention to restarting the work on the YOU.
The comptroller, Aymar-Blair said, points out the financial promises made by the county that must be kept.
As he has not been involved in policymaking before, he said it gives him a “clear eye” and “objective lens” to do the job the way he has promised and said, “it’s really hard to check your own work.”
“There’s no Republican or Democratic way to do this job,” Aymar-Blair said. “You really need to choose voters.”
Will Truitt, candidate for Dutchess County Comptroller
Lifelong Hyde Park resident Will Truitt, who has been a Dutchess County legislator for a decade, said he is “excited to get away from the political aspect of serving in government,” and put his financial and accounting experience to work.
“The comptroller should not be entering into that office with some sort of political agenda in mind, and I absolutely do not have one,” Truitt said.
Truitt, the District 7 legislator and legislature chairman, got into local politics early.
He graduated from Franklin D. Roosevelt High School and enrolled in 2013 at then-Marist College to study accounting and business finance.
With a “passion” for learning more about how government works, during his freshman year, he took an internship in former Dutchess County Executive Mark Molinaro’s office.
During his sophomore year, he decided to run for the county legislature to bring a “youthful perspective,” and won.
He knows his legislator term limit of 12 years is coming up, and said, “It’s time to pass the torch for someone new to represent.”
As CFO for Metzger Construction in Hopewell Junction, he said he’s “not a career politician,” but his experience in the legislature and professional background have prepared him for the comptroller position.
To Truitt, the relationships he built in county government and his understanding of the legislative process make him further “in tune” as comptroller.
Truitt said he has knocked on over 6,000 doors in every municipality of Dutchess County as part of his campaign and noted affordability is constituents’ most pressing issue.
“I think it’s so important for any candidate, whether you’re running for town board, county legislature or county comptroller, to get out there and meet people,” Truitt said.
It’s essential, he said, “for the people to know who their representatives are in government.”
As a legislator, he was a proponent of conservative county budgeting and wants to bring “that same mindset” into the comptroller office, ensuring Dutchess County is spending money within its means.
To support public safety, Truitt said he would also work in partnership with the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office on its budgets, making sure the money appropriated for them is being used “the right way,” getting the tools and resources they need to do their jobs properly.
Truitt said his goal is to find every way county government can be as effective and efficient as possible, to save taxpayer dollars.
Contact reporter Nickie Hayes: NHayes@poughkee.gannett.com, 845-863-3518 and @nickiehayess on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: What does the county comptroller do? Meet the candidates running in Dutchess election
Reporting by Nickie Hayes, Poughkeepsie Journal / Poughkeepsie Journal
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