I hope everyone had a great year in 2025! I very much enjoy being your full-time Supervisor and I’m honored to be able to do what I do for our community every day. Here is a look at some accomplishments from 2025:
I personally assisted approximately 59 of our neighbors in various constituent service cases. These are issues that impact your life daily - like the potholes you see me posting about, waste collection, building department complaints, flooding mitigation, financial issues, state/federal services, and more.
Under this current administration, as of 12/31/25, the Town of Chester has either received or been awarded approximately $1,261,598.60 in grant funding. This funding allows us to get projects started/finished like our new sidewalks in Sugar Loaf, water district upgrades for Walton Lake Estates, paving for Johnson Road, our new electrical pole/box for our Chester Community Park field lights, and ADA walkways, upgraded bathrooms, and lighting for Carpenter Community Park. It also pays for amenities like community picnics, our Chester Field Day, EV charging stations, and our senior fitness equipment.
We kept the 2026 Budget under the tax cap, only a 2.61% increase. On average, town residents can expect around a $14.50/month increase in their taxes and village residents can expect a $9/month decrease in their taxes.
We are now almost one full year into our 24/7 dedicated ambulance service contract with Empress EMS. Our response rates are nearly 100% and our average response time is well below 10 minutes. Our community is safer and healthier with this contract.
Councilman Courtenay and I lobbied multiple entities and state representatives to get our Community Preservation Fund bill finally passed in Albany. This was almost nine years in the making and we are proud to finally get it passed. Please vote YES on a future referendum to officially approve the creation of that fund when the time comes.
We officially preserved 13 acres of open space near Camp Monroe Road and Lakes Road through a conservation subdivision agreement with the residential developer there. We did not have to spend a penny on the property.
We started a new congregate dining program to feed seniors weekly and we expanded the parking lot near the Chester Senior Center for additional senior/veteran/general parking.
We brought back Friday Night Lights football games and other potential night activity to Chester Commons Park with the newly installed field lights.
We sold the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center to Orange County which decreased our expenses, potential liability concerns, and future investment needs.
We executed all paperwork and agreements to officially transfer town property to the Chester Union Free School District that it plans to develop for a future sports facility.
We passed new local laws and reforms such as new water district billing which reduces the assessed taxes you pay in your district, noise ordinance reform, an increased parkland fee so land developers pay their fair share towards our parks, procurement policy reform, a new investment policy which will allow the town to earn more interest on your money, a local law on zombie poles to incentivize a more visually pleasing and safer community, a new Senior Center fee schedule, a Hotel/Motel/Airbnb tax so visitors pay their fair share towards our community, and fire department tax exemption reform.
My 2026 Supervisor’s Agenda is as follows:
- Execute on plan to decrease the cost of ambulance services in Chester.
- Reduce our budget further or maintain a budget under the tax cap for 2027.
- Start construction in Carpenter Community Park on the walkway, bathroom, and lighting projects we were awarded $270,550 in grant funding for.
- Finish the Comprehensive Plan Update.
- Seek more grant funding for our infrastructure, public services, and parks/recreation facilities.
- Update and certify our Preservation Plan and hold a public referendum on our recently state-authorized Community Preservation Fund.
- Finish pedestrian-friendly infrastructure project and explore additional parking improvements in Sugar Loaf.
- Continue to work full-time as your supervisor and handle resident’s concerns/issues as efficiently as possible.
I’m looking forward to more success, achievements, and collaboration for Chester in 2026! If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me any time.
Brandon Holdridge
Town Supervisor of Chester