Joseph D. Cavaccini
Wappinger Town Supervisor

Current Years of Service
January 1, 2024 – Present

Responsibilities of the Office

The Town Supervisor serves as the Chief Executive, Operations, and Fiscal Officer of town government. He presides at all meetings of the Wappinger Town Board, directing the legislative and administrative functions of that body. The Supervisor also oversees the day-to-day operations of a municipal government of nearly 20 departments, employing around 100 people, and providing services to nearly 30,000 residents. As the Chief Financial Officer of the town, the Town Supervisor is responsible for the implementation of the Town’s budget.

Biography

What began as a love and passion for history, developed into a love and passion to improve his hometown. Town Supervisor Joseph D. Cavaccini has dedicated most of his life to bettering the quality of life for the people of Wappinger. Having started his public service career at age 12, he was appointed to his position within the Office of Town Historian for the Town of Wappinger. This appointment made him the youngest person to be appointed to a post within a municipal historian’s office in New York State, as well as the youngest official to serve in a public capacity in the State.

Cavaccini has worked on the front lines of local government throughout his career. In working alongside five different administrations across three Towns, he has seen what works and what does not work for municipalities, and brings this innovative approach to Town Hall today. On November 7, 2023, Cavaccini went on to secure the Town’s top spot when he was overwhelmingly elected to be the 30th Town Supervisor of the Town of Wappinger.

Throughout his time in public service, Town Supervisor Cavaccini has worked daily to be a transparent and accessible public official. He strongly supported, sponsored, and passed legislation that works on behalf of the taxpayer rather than against, by lowering taxes and bringing back over millions of dollars in Federal, State, and County grant funding to projects here in Wappinger. Cavaccini has a proven voting record in support of our small businesses, conscious development, first responders, and fiscal conservatism.

In keeping his promise, within his first 100 days, he launched the Wappinger Protection Act. A series of legislative actions to strategically plan and protect the character of the Town. In doing just that, the Town Board took action to support farmland and agriculture by expanding agricultural programs as well as voted to enact conservation easements and covenants to support open space. Supervisor Cavaccini is most proud that in March 2024, he championed historic legislation, to protect our quality of life by adopting a series of zoning changes limiting the overdevelopment and congestion of our community by preventing the construction of large-scale multi-family housing developments in single-family zoned areas in the Town of Wappinger.

Committed to fiscal responsibility, Cavaccini has crafted budgets that improve services while lowering property taxes, obtained millions of dollars in grant funding, eliminated wasteful spending, generated new revenue streams by diversifying Town funds in high interest earning depositories, and implemented reforms that save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. He turned around the Recycle Center operations from an annual deficit to eliminating a “middleman vendor” and now processing recycling and refuse in-house – ensuring the facility stays affordable for residents. He is proud to have supported our Town’s Union workforce by ending years long arbitration and negotiating fair market wages to the team that serves our community. Ensuring that the Town looks out for the best interests of our employees and holds firm on contracts.

He developed a “Quality-of-Life Taskforce”, through the Code Enforcement Office whose efforts are focused on removing illegal signs that clutter our roadways and street corners, addressing and sub sequentially removing abandoned unsafe buildings. Cavaccini’s focus on enhancing the aesthetics and safety of our town has resulted in eliminating eye sores and further demonstrating his commitment to protect your property values. On that note, in March 2024, he issued his first Executive Order, demolishing an unsafe structure on Route 9D that the Town had recently purchased, demonstrating swift action to remove these blighted and dangerous structures around our community. He has secured more than $100 million in new investment through the revitalization of underused properties and brownfields in Town. He has expanded our Town park system for the first time in 25 years through the purchase of 2513 Route 9D. In 2026, Cavaccini led the charge to purchase 326 acre former Cranberry Hills property to prevent hundreds of units of housing and develop The Central Park at Wappinger as a great connector of our community.

He has also led the largest public works initiative in Town history fostering major investments in parks, recreation, and infrastructure, including the expansion of the Town park system, construction and completion of long-awaited community projects, improvements to waterfront access, enhanced athletic facilities, and the development of some of Wappinger’s most notable facilities such as (Challenger) Inspiration Field, re-opening “The Chapel” at Carnwath Farms for event use, the new live performance stage, the Town’s first community center, and Walk of Heroes at Brexel-Schlathaus Park; reconstructed the Chelsea Boat Launch on our waterfront; enhancing amenities such as light towers at the Martz Field tennis/pickleball courts, designing and completing the new Major Martz Vietnam War Memorial Plaza, activating the wellhead at Airport Park to bring water to the soccer program for the first time in 30 years, paving parks, removing large overgrown debris piles in various parks, a new racquetball wall at Martz Field, brand new Fleetwood Park, new trailhead and bridge at Reese park Town Nature Preserve, and funding the completion of the nearly decade long – unfinished Spook Hill Park project; reflecting his dedication to promoting recreational opportunities for all residents and proving our commitment to optimizing resources and improving service delivery. Since taking office, Cavaccini has led the redesign and construction of Town owned water and sewer treatment facilities, and the Highway Department facility.

His administration has also prioritized public safety through initiatives such as the reconstruction of over 50 Town owned roads, advocating for roadway improvements on County/State roads, enhanced street lighting, targeted neighborhood patrols, new digital speed signs, and restrictions on truck traffic in residential areas.

Cavaccini is a lifelong Town of Wappinger resident and lives on Rosewood Drive. His family have been proud Dutchess County residents and taxpayers since 1912. He has a background in public relations, communications, and government administration. In 2014, he was appointed Curator of the Sports Museum of Dutchess County and in 2016 was the Founder and Executive Director of the Friends of Carnwath Farms Historic Site & Park Inc., a community-based organization working with the Town of Wappinger to promote and preserve the town-owned Carnwath Farms Park. He remains involved in many recreation events and programming in Wappinger, formerly serving on the Town’s Recreation Committee. From 2017 to 2019, he served as Town of Fishkill Town Historian. On October 3, 2017, Cavaccini was elected to his first elected office representing the Grinnell Public Library District, which includes the Village of Wappingers Falls and Town of Wappinger. Assuming this office, made him the youngest elected official in the Town of Wappinger and the youngest at the time of taking office in New York State. In 2019, he was elected to serve the people of Dutchess County’s 15th Legislative District as our County Legislator. In 2025, the Supervisor was unanimously elected as the Vice President of the Dutchess County Supervisor’s and Mayors Association, he also serves on the Board, as well as a member, of several non-profits including the Wappingers Historical Society, Sports Museum of Dutchess County, Lafayette Lodge, No. 18 IOOF, Chelsea Sportsmen’s Association,  and the Beacon Elks. Cavaccini has been recognized by our community a number of times when he was awarded the Dutchess County Historical Society’s Franklin D. Roosevelt Award,  inducted into the Dutchess County Sports Hall of Fame for the preservation of sports history, a 2021 Young Elected Official Rising Star by his peers, recognized by CAPE of Dutchess County through their Change Maker Award, received the Dewitt Clinton Award for Community Service by the NYS Masonic Lodge, and was named as a Hudson Valley Forty Under 40 Mover and Shaker by the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Cavaccini attended Wappingers schools and Marist College and is a proud graduate of Roy C. Ketcham High School. He enjoys spending his free time out and about in Wappinger supporting small businesses, traversing through our parks, and providing public tours of local historical sites and museums.

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