Nadia Rajsz is a medical laboratory scientist and former Lumberland town supervisor who has chaired the Sullivan County Legislature since January 2024. A Democrat from Glen Spey, she leads a nine-member body split five Democrats to four Republicans, and in 2026 she voted with a 5 to 4 majority to close the county nursing home. She is not on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot.
So who is Nadia Rajsz, what has she done, and what do her critics say? The record runs through two decades of Lumberland town government, an upset of the legislature’s longest-serving member, a public clash with a Republican chairman, a 2023 Democratic takeover, two hard budgets, and a nursing home closure that ended up in court.
Quick Facts
- Party
- Democrat (has also run on the Republican line)
- Hometown
- Glen Spey, Town of Lumberland, N.Y.
- Date of Birth
- Not listed in official biographies reviewed
- Current Position
- Chair, Sullivan County Legislature; District 2 Legislator
- Background
- Medical laboratory technologist; SUNY Orange clinical lab science chair; Lumberland supervisor
- In Office Since
- January 2016 (legislator; county biography says 2017); January 2024 (chair)
EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY
Rajsz has lived in Glen Spey for more than 35 years, according to her county biography. She has been married to her husband, Michael, since 1980, and they have two daughters, Deanna and Natalie, and two granddaughters. She holds a master’s degree in biology. PagPol could not confirm her date or place of birth.
She has worked in hospital laboratories since 1978, including the Beth Israel Transplant Lab, the county says. She is a licensed medical laboratory technologist and an associate professor who chairs the Clinical Lab Science Department at SUNY Orange. She is also a past president of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America branch in Glen Spey.
St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Glen Spey, where Rajsz has lived for more than 35 years. (Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
LUMBERLAND TOWN HALL, 1999 TO 2015
Rajsz was first elected to the Lumberland Town Board in 1999 and served eight years, and she became town supervisor in 2010 and was elected twice, the county says. She also represented Lumberland on the Upper Delaware Council and served on the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway Committee, which the River Reporter said she chaired.
In her first try for the legislature, she lost the 2011 Democratic primary for District 2 to incumbent Kathy LaBuda, 250 to 209, according to the River Reporter. LaBuda was then the longest-serving legislator in office, and her Democrats held a seven to two majority on the board. PagPol found no record of military service by Rajsz.
THE 2015 UPSET
In 2015 Rajsz, still a registered Democrat, challenged LaBuda again on the Republican, Rural Heritage and Reform lines. She said a new district map that moved half of Highland out of District 2 “did appear [to be] gerrymandering,” according to the River Reporter. LaBuda answered, “There was no gerrymandering going on at all, I give you my word.”
“I’m hoping that this is done in a more accountable, and open and transparent way,” Rajsz said of future redistricting. Her platform that year was budgets: “I want to bring financial stability to our county budget, the way I have done for the Town of Lumberland,” she said, according to the River Reporter.
That November she beat LaBuda, the legislature’s longest-serving member, 952 to 789, according to the River Reporter’s year in review. Six of the nine seats went to new legislators. At the January organizational meeting that made Democrat Luis Alvarez chair, she was elected vice chair, the River Reporter reported.
Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Glen Spey, in the Town of Lumberland. (Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
THE FIRST TERMS, 2016 TO 2023
The county’s biography dates her service to 2017, but the 2015 result and the vice chair vote show she took her seat in January 2016. In June 2019 she beat LaBuda in a Democratic primary rematch, 176 to 168, while LaBuda won the Independence line 24 to 11, according to the River Reporter’s official results.
That fall Rajsz ran on both the Democratic and Republican lines and beat LaBuda again, 996 to 828, in unofficial results reported by the Sullivan County Democrat. Republicans took a seven to two majority, and in January 2020 Republican Rob Doherty became chair, with Mike Brooks as vice chair.
In February 2021 she accused Doherty of using his title to issue statements without the board’s agreement and said she would seek his censure. “You’ve yelled, you’ve bullied, you’ve harassed,” she told him. “It needs to stop now.” Doherty said, “I vehemently deny acting or commenting inappropriately toward any employee or public during our legislative meetings,” according to the Sullivan County Democrat.
PagPol could not find how the censure effort ended. In January 2022 she nominated Republican Joe Perrello for chair, saying “we need unity, we need respect, we need civility,” according to the River Reporter. Doherty won another term, 5 to 4. “Change has its enemies; judge me by my enemies,” he said, as protesters circled the government center honking.
THE 2023 RACE
In November 2023 Rajsz defeated Republican Joanne Jasper 701 to 405, or 63.3 percent, on the Democratic and Sullivan lines, according to the county’s official results. Democrats ousted every Republican incumbent but Nicholas Salomone and won a majority, up from three seats, according to Mid-Hudson News.
Winning vote share in contested 2023 Sullivan County Legislature races
Nadia RajszOther winning legislators
Alvarez and Perrello ran unopposed. Source: Sullivan County Board of Elections official results.
THE CHAIRMANSHIP, 2024 TO 2025
On Jan. 2, 2024, on a motion by Perrello, the legislature chose Rajsz as chair 7 to 2, with Alvarez and Republican Terry Blosser-Bernardo voting no, and made Perrello vice chair. “Thank you very much for having faith in me to do this job for the next year and onward,” she said, according to the Sullivan County Democrat.
“I am hoping that I can bring a new perspective and a breath of fresh air into our legislative body,” she added. Mid-Hudson News reported she was the first woman to chair the legislature since Leni Binder in 2003. In December 2024 the legislature passed the 2025 budget 8 to 1 with a 2.5 percent levy increase.
Blosser-Bernardo cast the lone no vote, according to Radio Catskill, which reported that Rajsz said some departments were not treated equitably. In October 2025 the county put forward a $305 million tentative 2026 budget with a 9.1 percent tax increase, citing a projected $5 million drop in sales tax revenue.
In December, after residents objected, the legislature moved its budget vote from Dec. 11 to Dec. 18. “We need further discussion as to what we can actually do to bring down that budget,” Rajsz said, according to Radio Catskill. Mamakating resident Janet Lybolt called the increase “unobtainable for a lot of people living in this county.”
On Dec. 18 the legislature adopted a $305.7 million amended budget with a 2 percent increase. County records show the levy resolution passed 5 to 3, with Rajsz, both McPhillipses, Scott and Alvarez voting yes, Blosser-Bernardo, Perrello and Salomone voting no, and Republican Amanda Ward absent. Rajsz called it “the hardest budget I’ve ever had to work on as a legislator.”
SUNSET LAKE, 2026
On Jan. 5, 2026, the legislature reelected Rajsz chair 9 to 0 and made Alvarez vice chair 8 to 1, with Salomone opposed, according to the county’s January minutes. On March 26 legislators voted in executive session, reportedly 5 to 4, to close the Care Center at Sunset Lake, the county nursing home in Liberty.
Legislators have said a state health department gag order took effect after that vote. In July, Radio Catskill reported that Infinite Care, the firm running the home, was ending its consulting role and that new admissions were paused at the 146-bed home, which had 96 residents and a one-star overall federal rating.
The county announced the closure on Aug. 19. Rajsz said “our challenging finances and the lack of ability to transfer operations to our consulting firm” left no choice, and that “taxpayers cannot afford to continue the costly operation of the Care Center,” according to Radio Catskill.
A road through Monticello, the county seat. Part of the village lies in Rajsz’s District 2. (Photo: Dougtone, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
At the next day’s meeting, Legislator Cat Scott said the March tally was five to four. Blosser-Bernardo said, “It can’t be five-four, I was not there that day,” and Alvarez said he did not remember how he voted. “Well then the vote failed,” Scott said. “No, we had enough people,” Rajsz replied, according to WAMC.
“We are more than RFPs and contracts in this community. We are living human beings,” said Josie Omar of the Senior Legislative Action Committee, who called legislators cowards. On Sept. 16 a judge halted the closure in a suit brought by attorney Michael Sussman for residents, families and staff, and on Sept. 24 ruled the county broke the law by not holding a public vote.
On Oct. 1 the legislature voted 5 to 4 in public to close the home and seek a new operator through a request for proposals. Rajsz voted yes with Brian McPhillips, Salomone, Perrello and Ward. “The county is not in a position to run an adult care center,” Rajsz said, according to Spectrum News.
THE COUNTY AND THE PARTY MATH
Sullivan County had 17,340 active enrolled Democrats and 17,267 Republicans out of 51,587 active voters in February 2026, according to state enrollment figures in PagPol’s Data Spine. Another 13,875 voters belong to no party. Democrats hold five of the nine legislature seats, and Republican Perrello won in 2023 on both the Democratic and Republican lines.
Among the seven contested 2023 races shown above, Rajsz posted the highest winning share, according to the official results; Alvarez and Perrello ran unopposed. District 2 covers Lumberland, Forestburgh and part of the Village of Monticello. For another county leader, see PagPol’s profile of Mike Hill, who chairs the Niagara County Legislature.
LEADERSHIP ROLES
As chair, Rajsz presides over the nine-member legislature, which adopts the county budget and works with County Manager Joshua Potosek. Matt McPhillips is majority leader and Perrello is minority leader. The legislature chooses its chair each January; she followed Doherty, whom Matt McPhillips unseated in 2023, and Greene County’s Patrick Linger holds a similar post.
Before becoming chair, she was vice chair during her first term, and in 2020 she chaired the Health and Family committee. Outside the legislature she has represented Lumberland on the Upper Delaware Council and served on the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway Committee. PagPol could not find a current list of her standing committee assignments on the county website.
WHY SHE RAN AND WHAT SHE BELIEVES
Rajsz has framed her career around budgets and process. She first ran promising “financial stability” for the county, and in 2015 she called for redistricting done in an “open and transparent way.” In January 2022 she said the county needed to be “moving away from chaos,” the River Reporter reported.
On the nursing home, she has argued that the county cannot afford to keep running it. “The money is not there anymore for us,” she said on Oct. 1, adding, “I believe that the private industry is better equipped to take care of human beings.” She has also said of the site, “I don’t want to see it go away,” according to Spectrum News.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
Rajsz runs inexpensive campaigns. State Board of Elections data on data.ny.gov list 33 records for her committee. In 2019 they include a $500 gift from the Sullivan County Republican Committee on Aug. 26, the largest cash contribution she reported, and in 2023 they show $5,100 in kind.
Of the 2023 total, $4,300 came from Rajsz herself and $500 from her husband. PagPol could not compute total raised, spent or cash on hand for each cycle from the filings. County races receive no public matching funds. The bigger money story is the county budget, which reached $305.7 million for 2026 as sales tax revenue fell.
Change in county property tax levy, 2021 to 2025
Sullivan CountyNearby counties, increaseDecrease
The four years before Rajsz’s 2025 and 2026 budgets. Source: PagPol Data Spine, from state comptroller county property tax levy data.
CONTROVERSIES AND CRITICISM
The sharpest criticism of Rajsz concerns Sunset Lake. “I think we need more vision here in Sullivan County,” Scott said before the Oct. 1 vote, asking how private operators could run a home if counties could not. Blosser-Bernardo called relying on a request for proposals a “path to ruin,” according to Spectrum News.
Lou Setren of the home’s family council urged a countywide referendum, according to Spectrum News. After the Oct. 1 vote, Sussman said, “We do not regard the vote today as curing the unlawful county action taken on March 26, 2026.” Rajsz has said the county has no choice given its finances and state regulations.
Republicans have attacked her budgets. “These amendments are reckless. It’s going to be putting the county next year in a worse position than we are today,” Perrello said of the 2026 plan, according to Radio Catskill. Rajsz called reaching consensus “a very difficult decision.” PagPol found no ethics complaints or lawsuits against her personally.
CLAIMS VERSUS THE RECORD
Rajsz promised financial stability. The county’s fiscal stress score fell from 42.1 in 2019 to 3.3 in 2022, before she became chair, according to a River Reporter piece by county communications director Dan Hust citing comptroller data. PagPol could not retrieve the comptroller’s county scores for 2023 through 2025.
The county was not on the comptroller’s list of stressed governments for fiscal years ending in 2025, and it did no borrowing in 2025, according to its accomplishments list. Its 2026 budget stayed under the tax cap, though Radio Catskill said it bets on ambitious revenue projections.
In 2015 she called for open and transparent redistricting. In 2026 the nursing home closure was first decided in executive session, and a judge ruled the county had violated the law by not holding a public vote. Since her 2022 call for civility, the legislature reelected her 9 to 0, but split 5 to 3 on the 2026 levy and 5 to 4 on the closure.
STATE COMPTROLLER AUDITS IN THE COUNTY
The comptroller’s 2025 list of fiscally stressed local governments names one Sullivan County entity, the Village of Liberty, in moderate stress with a score of 63.3, according to the state comptroller. Eldred Central School District, which serves Rajsz’s area, scored 3.3 with no designation for 2025.
PagPol could not find a comptroller audit of a Sullivan County government, school district or fire district released in 2024, 2025 or 2026. Earlier audits examined the county’s fiscal stress in 2013 and its tourism promotion contract in 2014, and in 2015 the comptroller reviewed records and reports in the Town of Mamakating.
LOOKING AHEAD
Rajsz is not on the ballot this November; her term runs through 2027. The county must still pick a nursing home operator through a request for proposals, answer the Sussman lawsuit, and write a 2027 budget as sales tax lags. For more, visit PagPol’s Sullivan County page or subscribe to the Sullivan County newsletter.
