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Publication Date: October 28th, 2025.
Image remixed from The Economist.
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The navigable part of Hudson can easily fit into Manhattan’s Central Park. And yet, the City has 72 cars.
Indeed: Hudson is famously a 2 square mile city (that is 6 square kilometers for the well traveled), yet the city owns seventy-two (72) vehicles, nearly one for every full time employee of the City of Hudson. In a blue state and even bluer town, that likes to brand itself as “climate-conscious,” that ratio borders on the absurd. Maybe there is good reason for all of these vehicles and each serve a purpose?
This FOIL File, part 2 in our series, tries to understand the city’s vehicle inventory and payroll data to reveal how a micro-city with fewer than 100 full-time employees (serving ~5000 residents) amassed a fleet fit for a county. We ask the uncomfortable, nay uncommon, question: if Hudson is committed to green (both environmental and fiscal) sustainability, why is City Hall running on gasoline and paying more than six figures in car insurance per year?
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Hudson covers 2.16 square miles of land. Monaco (0.78 sq mi) and Vatican City (0.17 sq mi) run entire countries on less. Hudson is smaller, far less dense, and far less wealthy, yet it operates a fleet of 72 city-owned vehicles. In a 200-square-mile Wyoming town, 72 vehicles might be defensible. In a 2-square-mile city you can cross on foot in 15 minutes, it is harder to justify. For scale, Columbia County covers about 650 square miles and operates roughly 125 vehicles, excluding the Sheriff’s fleet, for an area about 300 times larger than Hudson.
**SeeThroughNY’s 2025 municipal payroll** [see our Methods section] lists 94 employees across all departments for the City of Hudson, and our Editors confirmed with Hudson’s City Treasurer’s Office that there are currently approximately 85 full-time employees. This means that the city may have approximately one vehicle for every full-time worker.
Is this ratio of public employee to public vehicle extraordinary for a city this small and walkable, or justified? Environmentalists could argue a fleet this size makes no practical or environmental sense…Progressive Hudsonians like to invoke European norms when it comes to road use, pedestrian and cycling norms, healthcare and gun control, but maybe they should first try European sized cars, vehicle sharing and walking?
| Department | # of Vehicles | Guestimated Residents served? |
|---|---|---|
| 🪦 Cemetery | 1 | ¯\(ツ)/¯ |
| 👶 Youth | 4 | Less than a hundred |
| 🏠 Code Enforcement | 2 | Hundreds |
| 🚒 Fire | 13 | Thousands |
| ⚖️ LE (HPD) | 16 | Thousands |
| 👮 DPW | 36 | Thousands |
Our grandparents tell us stories about walking for hours in the snow to school. Yet in 2025, we have the Hudson Youth transported a mere mile (that’s right, exactly one mile) from the Youth Center to Oakdale Park…even if this was warranted, why does the Youth Department have four vehicles? The Common Sense Editors reached out to the Director of the Youth Department who was not available for comment.
Similarly, though some of these cars are old and likely inexpensive, who takes care of maintenance? Who pays for gas? What about the insurance on all of these vehicles?
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Also, when did Hudson get a “Cemetery Department”? See Column A, on Exhibit A. Is the software coding system foreshadowing a Parks & Recreation Department?
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If the voters, and our Mayor, choose to have this many cars, we should have them. But if we think that Hudson is a green, and walkable city, and are having a hard time making budget ends meet… how can we align our vehicles with our values?
Beyond those three, it is hard to justify the scale. Just as salary shows only half the picture, benefits and medical costs can balloon. So too do the hidden costs of cars, maintenance, prime parking in the city center, and expensive petrol.
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Climate Mayor, Gas Habits
If Mayor Kamal truly believes his own campaign website, where he calls himself an advocate for sustainability and climate responsibility, then why does Hudson - arguably the most walkable city in America - own nearly one gas-burning vehicle for every full-time City Hall employee? A city that could be a national model for compact, low-emission living instead runs a municipal fleet better suited to a highway suburb. Every unnecessary car means more fuel, more maintenance, and more emissions, all paid for by taxpayers who were promised environmental leadership.
The irony deepens when you look at the mayor’s public calendar. It’s packed with “Climate Mayor” meetings, photo-ops, and panels about carbon reduction. Yet the city he runs idles away its resources on a fleet that belches CO₂ across just 2.16 square miles. If you’re curious what those climate meetings actually are (and what else fills the mayor’s schedule) read our related FOIL Files investigation, “How Does the Mayor Spend His Time?”.
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Hudson’s built environment is the size of Central Park, yet runs a vehicle-per-city employee ratio more typical of a Wyoming sized 20 square mile town. Cars are tools, not status symbols in the office pecking order. Public funds should move people and materials, not sit depreciating in parking lots, which by the way are very congested.
Sell the extras. Share the rest. Spend the savings on what residents actually see: safer streets, cleaner parks, and better infrastructure.
At Common Sense, we’re always calling for transparency, speed, and straight answers in city government. Credit where it’s due: both the Fire and Police Departments replied within twenty-four hours of our first reach out, each with clear written statements and reasoning. That’s professionalism, not politics…and Hudson’s better for it.
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Letter To The Editors: A Word from our Asst. Fire Chief Nick
“After updating our records, the Fire Department now operates 10 vehicles, with three recently removed from insurance: one sold truck, an older truck, and a trailer. HFD runs four main fire apparatus: a tower truck, two engines, and one rescue truck.
The rescue truck is being replaced and is scheduled to arrive next June. Maintaining these four pieces of equipment helps keep our ISO insurance rating at Class 3 [Editor's Note, this means excellent fire protection, typically placing in the top 10–15% of U.S. departments, most volunteer forces fall between Classes 5 and 9.]*, which is excellent for a fully volunteer department, but also materially impacts home and business insurance premiums for the City of Hudson.
The Chief and two Assistant Chiefs each use a Chevy Tahoe command vehicle, allowing rapid response to calls, especially on dangerous winter nights. A pickup truck supports the Dive Team, towing the water rescue trailer. Two support vehicles round out the fleet: an older Tahoe used by fire police for road closures and events, and a Ford E350 utility truck for moving personnel and equipment to incidents both in Hudson and for mutual aid.*
The smaller utility setup has proven more practical than sending a second large apparatus, especially for out-of-town support.”
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Letter To The Editors: HPD
The department operates sixteen vehicles in total, describing them as essential tools for public safety rather than conveniences. Officers rely on them to respond to emergencies, transport individuals, and coordinate with agencies beyond Hudson’s city limits.
The memo explains that the fleet supports a range of duties: daily patrols, supervision, K-9 operations, school safety, training, detective work, and administrative response. Because Hudson officers and detectives often travel for investigations, arrests, and court appearances, each vehicle is assigned to a specific function.
Acting Chief Capt. Miller emphasizes that police vehicles are maintained based on operational needs and safety standards, not personal use. “Our goal,” the department notes, “is to ensure that every officer has the proper resources to respond efficiently and keep our community safe.”
Exhibit A: Written statement from the HPD provided to the Common Sense Editors in response to a shared first draft of this piece.
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Letter to the Editor: DPW’s Rob Perry
“Those items listed as backhoe, sweeper, skid steer, trailer, and loader are equipment. They are registered so they can travel on public roads to where they are needed, but they are not “driven” as vehicles in the ordinary sense. They are used to dig holes and to carry or move supporting tools and attachments. They are essential to our operations, and we have them when we need them. There are 12.
Those items listed as dump trucks are heavy trucks. They are used for snow plowing, snow removal, and hauling large quantities of blacktop or stone. Included in this group are two garbage trucks that are used daily. These vehicles are essential to our operations, and we have them when we need them. There are 6.
Five vehicles have been transferred to other departments or are ready for surplus auction.
That leaves ten 1-ton pickup trucks, used daily by DPW, the Sewer Department, the Water Department, and the Cemetery Department. They transport personnel and equipment, including mowers, snow blowers, shovels, ladders, pipe, lumber, and similar materials.
To anticipate the follow-up question, why we do not share excavators, equipment, and large dump trucks with the county or other municipalities: because when it snows in Hudson, it also snows in Greenport and the county. They need their snow equipment at exactly the same time we need ours. The same applies in summer, when we are doing blacktop and road work and so are Greenport and the county, using similar equipment.
Fun Fact: Hudson is about two square miles, but that ignores the roughly 20 miles of water transmission main running from Taghkanic to the city line, as well as the reservoir. We manage multiple properties outside the city and maintain assets along that line.
All of this work requires equipment.”
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