Westchester to Spend $385M on County Projects, Execs Told at CIC-BCA Membership Meeting
WHITE PLAINS—More than 125 executives with the Hudson Valley’s construction and building trades attended the 2025 spring membership meeting of the Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley and the Building Contractors Association of Westchester & The Mid-Hudson Region, which was held at the Sonesta White Plains Downtown hotel here on April 23.
A highlight of the evening was a welcoming speech from Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, who a short time later gave his first State of the County Address across town at the Westchester County Office Building. Mr. Jenkins told the CIC/BCA gathering that the county has earmarked $385 million for its capital budget in 2025.
“No matter the chaos and other things that are happening at other levels, we are going to continue to move forward on the investments we have already decided on,” Mr. Jenkins said. “So, there is no challenge for us to make sure $385 million gets out on the street.”
Mr. Jenkins discussed the ongoing Glen Island Bridge project in New Rochelle as well as work at Rye Playland. He noted that the county has spent approximately $150 million at Playland so far with more work to come for the building trades.
Mr. Jenkins vowed that the amusement park will open for the season but could not provide a specific opening date. He also explained new proposed apprenticeship legislation and modified responsible bidder language that he recently signed into law.
A featured speaker of the dinner meeting was Richard Juliano, IOM, CAE, the general counsel of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) in Washington D.C. He discussed the evolving initiatives being advanced by the Trump administration, including tariffs and their impacts on the economy and the construction industry.
Mr. Juliano said, “Our (ARTBA) concern is how will those (tariffs) eventually affect project costs. Specifically, we would like to see the Federal Highway Administration make federal dollars available to defray some of those costs.”
The session also included a tag-team presentation on three new state laws involving wage theft, contractor registration and “piggybacking” of public contracts, presented by Thomas H. Welby, Esq., and Gregory J. Spaun, Esq., of the law firm Welby, Brady & Greenblatt, LLP.
Sponsors of the CIC/BCA Spring 2025 meeting were: Advance Testing Company, Inc., American Global LLC, Byram Concrete & Supply, LLC
EP George Inc., Laborers Local 60, NYS Laborers LECET, Operating Engineers Local 137, RCA Asphalt, LLC, Welby, Brady & Greenblatt, LLP.
The full report of the CIC & BCA 2025 Spring Membership Meeting will be published in the May 2025 CONSTRUCTION NEWS, www.cicbca.org, available soon.
Published: April 29, 2025
