Editor's note: The part about Thomas Cornell has been pulled pending a review for accuracy.

The county executive’s budget presentations in October always draw a big crowd, whether held in Ellenville, Saugerties or in legislative chambers in Kingston.

County Exec Jen Metzger pretty much said it all in a 17-page speech that consumed almost an hour last week.

Julius Caesar only crossed the Rubicon once (to a bad ending), but Metzger managed it twice.

First, about a third of the way through her speech, she let it drop that for the first time in about a decade, the county will be increasing its portion of the property tax. Only a year ago, jacking up the tax by 1.5 percent would have been unthinkable. I guess this is what a 19-4 majority does for you.

The exec didn’t say it – it came out at a press conference after the speech – but county sales tax projections are projected to rise by 10 percent next year, to another record of $200 million a year. The property tax, with what Metzger called its slight increase, will total about $76 million.

Truly it is written that If anything happens to that sales tax, county officials will be walking around in barrels with signs that read, “Can anybody spare a dime?”

Metzger didn’t even mention that she was applying some $30 million from the fund balance to the county’s first half a billion-dollar budget (plus $19 million). The number was placed in backup material distributed to media.

Last month, county comptroller March Gallagher reported the available fund balance stood at just over $18 million.

What gives? I asked budget officer Ken Juras. “We took it out of different accounts,” he said.

Gallagher advised later in the day that those accounts could add up to more than $100 million.

I get that federal and state budgets may be tight next year with some costs accruing to locals, but perhaps the question is, why would a county flush with cash have to increase a property tax (by about $1.2 million) increase it once feared ?

If this is an election-year budget, my name is Ward Todd.

And this: When asked if she intended to run for re-election next year, Metzger, who seems to be running all the time, did a little dance and then said, “Yes, I will.”