County proposes eliminating Major Felony Crime Task Force in 2027 budget

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 November 2026 at 9:20 pm

$106 million budget for county stays under tax cap with 2.48% increase

ALBION – Orleans County’s tentative budget for 2027 has been filed today and the $106 million spending plan calls for eliminating the Major Felony Crime Task Force.

The Task Force has a long-time supervising investigator in Joe Sacco and two investigators – retired Medina Police Chief Todd Draper and retired Rochester Police Department Sergeant Brett Sobieraski, who announced on Tuesday he is running for sheriff next year. The Task Force operates within the Orleans County District Attorney’s Office.

Cutting the Task Force will save the county nearly $400,000, said Jack Welch, the county’s chief administrative officer.

Felony indictments have decreased from 50 in 2023 to 44 in 2024 and 28 in 2025, a 44 percent decline over two years, he said.

A new model will be created within the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, and will continue to coordinate with local, state and federal law enforcement partners, Welch stated in his budget message filed today with the tentative budget.

He noted the Task Force’s organizational model has changed from how it was set up originally, when each village police department and the Sheriff’s Office assigned one employee to support it.

The tentative budget totals $106,119,042, which increases spending by 5.8 percent from the $100,261,320 in 2026.

The tax levy would increase by 2.48 percent or by $500,000 – from $20,139,000 to $20,639,000.

Despite the tax increase, the tax rate would drop 17.7 percent from $8.05 to $6.62 per $1,000 of assessed property. The levy will be down because the county’s overall assessed value has jumped by 24.7 percent – from $2.50 billion to $3.12 billion, an increase by $616,870,764.

The County Legislature will have a public hearing on the budget at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 at the Orleans County Legislative Chambers, 14016 Route 31 W, Albion. The Legislature will then vote on the budget right after the public hearing.

Welch said the county, just like the families and businesses, “continues to face significant affordability challenges. Rising health insurance costs, increased expenses and financial pressures beyond our control make it increasingly difficult to balance our budget and we will not simply pass these costs along to taxpayers.”

The Legislature sent a directive to Welch and department heads to maintain essential services, control spending and deliver a budget that stays under the state property tax cap.

He noted some of the budget pressures:

The federal One Big Beautiful Bill will reduce SNAP administrative reimbursement in 2027 by more than $400,000.
After switching to NYSHIP’s Empire Plan in 2026, family plan enrollment increased by 47% and single plan enrollment by 5%. Combined with a 22% increase in covered employees, this shift raised the 2027 medical coverage budget by a third to $9.5 million.
New York State retirement expenses increase of 4.6 percent
“We also continue to experience tremendous pressure from emergency housing placements, which have increased 149 percent since July 2022. Compounding these challenges, recent federal legislation will reduce administrative reimbursements to Orleans County by more than $400,000 in 2027.”
“State mandates remain another major concern. The nine state-mandated programs commonly referred to as the ‘9 for 90 Mandates’ will cost Orleans County more than $23 million in 2027, representing 111.6 percent of our proposed property tax levy.”