"And guess what? Between the two consecutive tax rate cuts that's over $9 million in savings delivered to our county taxpayers," Dinolfo said.

Here's where it gets complicated.

$9 million is the amount of money property owners would have paid if the rate was not cut in 2019 and again in 2020. But at the same time, the county is increasing the tax levy for 2020 by more than $9 million. The levy is what you actually pay in real dollars.

Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean: "What's the levy going to be in the 2020 budget?"

Cheryl Dinolfo, (R) Monroe County Executive: "Mr. finance director?"

Bob Franklin, Monroe County Finance Director: "Alright, good question. Next year's levy is roughly $403.9 million. It's roughly a $9.5 million increase from the '19 levy."

After talking with the county executive, I went to her Democratic challenger, County Clerk Adam Bello.

"This is more of the same where the county executive is raising taxes on people and homeowners and try to convince them that she lowered the bill," Bello said.

Brean: "(Homeowners) are paying more because their assessments have gone up. The county has no control over assessments."

Adam Bello, (D) Candidate for County Executive: "No but the county has control over how much it's spending and what the levy is."

Brean: "If you were county executive and you had an opportunity to reduce the tax rate, would you do it?"

Bello: "Of course because my job as the county executive is to only charge taxpayers what's necessary to fund the government."

The budget vote is Dec. 10.

Click here to read the 2020 proposed budget. Hit the "Ctrl" and "F" keys at the same time to search for issues or agencies that matter to you.

The vote for county executive is Tuesday, Nov. 5.