Independent Director Nominee

Robin A. Melvin— Since 2014, Ms. Melvin has served as Co-Chair of Illinois Mentoring Partnership, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the quantity and quality of mentoring services in Illinois, and has served as a board member since 2013. Ms. Melvin served as Director of the Boisi Family Foundation, a private family foundation that supports organizations serving the needs of youth from disadvantaged circumstances, from 1995 to 2012. In that role she also managed the Boisi Family Office, providing the primary interface with all investment managers, legal advisors and other service providers to the family. She has also served in various roles with MENTOR, a national non-profit youth mentoring advocacy organization, including Executive Director of the New York City affiliate, Vice President of the national affiliate network, Vice President of Development and Senior Vice President in charge of strategy. Prior to that, Ms. Melvin was an investment banker with Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

Company LLC, an independent investment banking firm that provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and restructurings and assists on raising debt and equity capital in the private and public markets. From September 2008 through June 2010, Mr. Howard was Managing Partner of S3 Strategic Advisors LLC, which provides strategic advice to hedge funds and asset managers. Prior to July 2006, Mr. Howard was a Managing Director of Credit Suisse First Boston LLC (“CSFB”), an international provider of financial services. He had been with CSFB and its predecessor companies since 1985. As a Managing Director in the Global Industrial and Services Investment Banking Group, he was an advisor to several of the firm’s most important clients on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and capital raising assignments.

DSM — Nominees for Class I Directors

Independent Director Nominees

Joseph S. DiMartino— Mr. DiMartino has been the Chairman of the Board of the funds in the Dreyfus Family of Funds for over 20 years. From 1971 through 1994, Mr. DiMartino served in various roles as an employee of Dreyfus (prior to its acquisition by a predecessor of BNY Mellon in August 1994 and related management changes), including portfolio manager, President, Chief Operating Officer and a director. He ceased being an employee or director of Dreyfus by the end of 1994. From July 1995 to November 1997, Mr. DiMartino served as Chairman of the Board of The Noel Group, a public buyout firm; in that capacity, he helped manage, acquire, take public and liquidate a number of operating companies. From 1986 to 2010, Mr. DiMartino served as a Director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Joni Evans— Ms. Evans has more than 35 years of experience in the publishing industry, serving as Publisher of Random House, Inc., President and Publisher of Simon & Schuster, Inc. and, most recently, Senior Vice President of the William Morris Agency, Inc.’s literary department until 2006. Ms. Evans is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and the Women’s Forum, and is a founding member of The Committee of 200 and Women’s Media Group.

Fund Board Committees. Each Fund has standing audit, nominating, compensation and litigation committees, each comprised of its Independent Directors, except that Joseph S. DiMartino does not serve on the compensation committee.

     The function of the audit committee is (1) to oversee the Fund’s accounting and financial reporting processes and the audits of the Fund’s financial statements and (2) to assist in the Board’s oversight of the integrity of the Fund’s financial statements, the Fund’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements and the qualifications, independence and performance of the Fund’s independent registered public accounting firm. A copy of each Fund’s Audit Committee Charter, which describes the audit committee’s purposes, duties and responsibilities, is available at www.dreyfus.com in the “Individual Investors” section under “Specialty Products — Closed End Fund Information.”

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     Each Fund’s nominating committee is responsible for selecting and nominating persons as members of the Board for election or appointment by the Board and for election by stockholders. In evaluating potential nominees, including any nominees recommended by stockholders, the committee takes into consideration the factors listed in each Fund’s Nominating Committee Charter and Procedures (the “Nominating Committee Charter”), including character and integrity, and business and professional experience. The nominating committee may consider whether a potential nominee’s professional experience, education, skills and other individual qualities and attributes, including gender, race or national origin, would provide beneficial diversity of skills, experience or perspective to the Board’s membership and collective attributes. Such considerations will vary based on the Board’s existing membership and other factors, such as the strength of a potential nominee’s overall qualifications relative to diversity considerations. The committee will consider recommendations for nominees from stockholders submitted to the Secretary of the Fund, c/o The Dreyfus Corporation Legal Department, 240 Greenwich Street, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10286, and including information regarding the recommended nominee as specified in the Nominating Committee Charter. The Nominating Committee Charter is not available on the Funds’ or Dreyfus’ website but was attached as Exhibit B to the Funds’ proxy statement for the 2017 annual stockholder meeting (filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on April 21, 2017).

     The function of the compensation committee is to establish the appropriate compensation for serving on the Board.

     The litigation committee seeks to address any potential conflicts of interest between the Funds and the Investment Adviser in connection with any potential or existing litigation or other legal proceeding relating to securities held by a Fund and held or otherwise deemed to have a beneficial interest held by the Investment Adviser or its affiliate.

     Each Fund also has a standing pricing committee comprised of any one Director. The function of the pricing committee is to assist in valuing the Fund’s investments.

Compensation. Each Nominee also serves as a board member of certain other funds in the Dreyfus Family of Funds. Annual retainer fees and meeting attendance fees are allocated among each Fund and those other funds on the basis of net assets, with the Chairman of each Board, Mr. DiMartino, receiving an additional 25% of such compensation. Each Fund reimburses Directors for travel and out-of-pocket expenses in connection with attending Board or committee meetings. Neither Fund has a bonus, pension, profit-sharing or retirement plan. Each emeritus Director is entitled to receive an annual retainer of one-half the amount paid as a retainer at the time the Director became emeritus and a per meeting attended fee of one-half the amount paid to Directors.

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     The amount of compensation paid to each Nominee by DSMB for its fiscal year ended November 30, 2018, and by DSM for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2018, and the aggregate amount of compensation paid to each such Nominee by all funds in the Dreyfus Family of Funds for which the Nominee was a board member during 2018, was as follows*:

**Represents the number of separate portfolios comprising the investment companies in the fund complex, including the Funds, for which the Nominee served as a board member in 2018.

***Mr. Howard was appointed to each Fund’s Board and the boards of certain other funds in the Dreyfus Family of Funds in May 2018.

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     For each Fund’s most recent fiscal year, the number of Board and committee meetings held and the amount of compensation paid by each Fund to the Continuing Directors and the aggregate amount of compensation paid by all funds in the Dreyfus Family of Funds for which each such person was a board member in 2018 are set forth on Exhibit A. Certain other information concerning each Fund’s Directors and officers also is set forth on Exhibit A.

Required Vote

     The election of a Nominee for each Fund requires the affirmative vote of a plurality of votes cast at the Fund’s meeting for the election of Directors.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Selection of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

     The 1940 Act requires that each Fund’s independent registered public accounting firm (the “independent auditors” or “auditors”) be selected by a majority of the Independent Directors. The audit committee has direct responsibility for the appointment, compensation, retention and oversight of the Fund’s independent auditors. At a meeting held on November 5, 2018 for DSMB and July 30, 2018 for DSM, each Fund’s audit committee approved and each Fund’s Board, including a majority of the Independent Directors, ratified and approved the selection of Ernst & Young LLP (“EY”) as the independent auditors for the respective Fund’s fiscal year ending in 2018. EY, a major international accounting firm, has acted as independent auditors of each Fund since the Fund’s organization. The audit committee’s reports for DSM and DSMB are attached as Exhibits B and C, respectively, to this proxy statement.

Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm Fees and Services

The following chart reflects fees billed by EY in each Fund’s last two fiscal years. For Service Affiliates (i.e., Dreyfus and any entity controlling, controlled by or under common control with Dreyfus that provides ongoing services to the relevant Fund), such fees represent only those fees that required pre-approval by the audit committee, except the Aggregate Non-Audit Fees amounts, which include all non-audit fees billed by EY to the Fund and Service Affiliates. All services provided by EY were pre-approved as required.

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¹Fiscal years ended September 30, 2017/September 30, 2018.²Fiscal years ended November 30, 2017/November 30, 2018.

³Services to the Fund consisted of one or more of the following: (i) agreed upon procedures related to compliance with Internal Revenue Code section 817(h), (ii) security counts required by Rule 17f-2 under the 1940 Act, as amended, (iii) advisory services as to the accounting or disclosure treatment of Fund transactions or events, (iv) advisory services to the accounting or disclosure treatment of the actual or potential impact to the Fund of final or proposed rules, standards or interpretations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Accounting Standards Boards or other regulatory or standard-setting bodies and (v) agreed upon procedures in evaluating compliance by the Fund with the provisions of the Fund’s articles supplementary, creating the series of APS.

⁴Services to the Fund consisted of (i) review or preparation of U.S. federal, state, local and excise tax returns; (ii) U.S. federal, state and local tax planning, advice and assistance regarding statutory, regulatory or administrative developments; and (iii) tax advice regarding tax qualification matters and/ or treatment of various financial instruments held or proposed to be acquired or held.

⁵Aggregate non-audit fees billed by EY to the Fund and Service Affiliates are shown under the Service Affiliates column.

Audit Committee Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures.Each Fund’s audit committee has established policies and procedures (the “Policy”) for pre-approval (within specified fee limits) of EY’s engagement for audit and non-audit services to the Fund and non-audit services to Service Affiliates without specific case-by-case consideration. The pre-approved services in the Policy can include pre-approved audit services, pre-approved audit-related services, pre-approved tax services and pre-approved all other services. Pre-approval considerations include whether the proposed services are compatible with maintaining EY’s independence. Pre-approvals pursuant to the Policy are considered annually. In addition, proposed services requiring pre-approval but not covered by the Policy are considered from time to time as necessary.

Auditor Independence.Each Fund’s audit committee has considered whether the provision of non-audit services that were rendered to Service Affiliates that did not require pre-approval is compatible with maintaining EY’s independence.

     A representative of EY is expected to be present at the meeting, will have the opportunity to make a statement and will be available to respond to appropriate questions.

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Service Providers

     Dreyfus, located at 200 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10166, serves as each Fund’s investment adviser.

     The Bank of New York Mellon, an affiliate of Dreyfus, located at 240 Greenwich Street, New York, New York 10286, acts as Custodian for the assets of each Fund.

     Computershare, Inc., located at 480 Washington Boulevard, Jersey City, New Jersey 07310, acts as each Fund’s Transfer Agent, Dividend-Paying Agent and Registrar.

Voting Information

To vote, you may use any of the following methods:

• By Mail.Please complete, date and sign the enclosed proxy card for each Fundyou own and mail it in the enclosed, postage-paid envelope.

• By Internet.Have your proxy card available. Go to the website listed on theproxy card. Enter your control number from your proxy card. Follow theinstructions on the website.

• By Telephone.Have your proxy card available. Call the toll-free number listedon the proxy card. Enter your control number from your proxy card. Followthe recorded instructions.

• In Person.Any stockholder who attends the meeting in person may vote byballot at the meeting.

     Shares represented by executed and unrevoked proxies will be voted in accordance with the specifications made thereon, and, if no voting instructions are given, shares will be voted “for” a proposal. If a proxy is properly executed and returned accompanied by instructions to withhold authority to vote or represents a broker “non-vote” (that is, a proxy from a broker or nominee indicating that such person has not received instructions from the beneficial owner or other person entitled to vote shares of a Fund on a particular matter with respect to which the broker or nominee does not have discretionary power), the Fund’s shares represented thereby will be considered to be present at the meeting for purposes of determining the existence of a quorum for the transaction of business, but will not constitute a vote “for” a proposal and will have no effect on the result of the vote.

     Each Fund will bear its pro rata share of the cost of soliciting proxies based on the net assets of the Fund. In addition to the use of the mails, proxies may be solicited personally or by telephone. Authorizations to execute proxies may be obtained by electronic transmission or by telephonic instructions in accordance with procedures designed to authenticate the stockholder’s identity. In all cases where a telephonic proxy is solicited (as opposed to where the stockholder calls

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the toll-free telephone number directly to vote), the stockholder will be asked to provide or confirm certain identifiable information and to confirm that the stockholder has received the Fund’s proxy statement and proxy card in the mail. Within 72 hours of receiving a stockholder’s solicited telephonic voting instructions, a confirmation will be sent to the stockholder to ensure that the vote has been taken in accordance with the stockholder’s instructions and to provide a telephone number to call immediately if the stockholder’s instructions are not correctly reflected in the confirmation.

OTHER MATTERS

     Neither Fund’s Board is aware of any other matter which may come before the meeting. However, should any such matter with respect to one or both Funds properly come before the meeting, it is the intention of the persons named in the accompanying forms of proxy to vote the proxy in accordance with their judgment on such matter.

     Any proposals of stockholders that are intended to be presented at either Fund’s 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders in accordance with Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), must be received by the Secretary of the respective Fund at the Fund’s principal executive offices no later than January 1, 2020 and must comply with all other legal requirements in order to be included in either Fund’s proxy statement and forms of proxy for that meeting. For other stockholder proposals to be presented at the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (but not included in the Funds’ proxy statement), a stockholder’s notice must be delivered to the Secretary of the respective Fund at the Fund’s principal executive offices no later than 5:00 p.m., Eastern time, on March 11, 2020.

     Stockholders who wish to communicate with Directors should send communications to the attention of the Secretary of the Fund, c/o The Dreyfus Corporation Legal Department, 240 Greenwich Street, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10286, and communications will be directed to the Director or Directors indicated in the communication or, if no Director or Directors are indicated, to the Chairman of the Board.

NOTICE TO BANKS, BROKER/DEALERS AND
VOTING TRUSTEES AND THEIR NOMINEES

     Please advise, as appropriate, Dreyfus Strategic Municipals, Inc. or Dreyfus Strategic Municipal Bond Fund, Inc. in care of Computershare, Inc., Proxy Department, 480 Washington Blvd., 27th floor, Jersey City, New Jersey 07310, whether other persons are the beneficial owners of the shares for which proxies are

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being solicited and, if so, the number of copies of the proxy statement and other soliciting material you wish to receive in order to supply copies to the beneficial owners of shares. Each Fund may pay persons holding shares of the Fund in their names or those of their nominees for their expenses in sending soliciting materials to their principals.

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT PROXIES BE RETURNED PROMPTLY. THEREFORE, STOCKHOLDERS WHO DO NOT EXPECT TO ATTEND THE MEETING IN PERSON ARE URGED TO COMPLETE, SIGN, DATE AND RETURNEACHENCLOSED PROXY CARD IN THE ENCLOSED STAMPED ENVELOPE OR OTHERWISE VOTE PROMPTLY.

Dated: April 30, 2019

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EXHIBIT A

PART I

     Part I sets forth information regarding the Continuing Directors, Board and committee meetings and share ownership.

Information About the Continuing Directors’ Experience, Qualifications, Attributes or Skills. The Continuing Directors of each Fund, together with information as to their positions with the Fund, principal occupations and other board memberships for the past five years, are shown below. Mr. DiMartino and Ms. Evans are Continuing Class I Directors for DSMB and Messrs. Davis and Houminer and Ms. Melvin are Continuing Class II Directors for DSM, certain information for which is provided in Proposal 1 of this proxy statement. The address of the Continuing Directors is 200 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10166.

Continuing Class III Directors with Terms Expiring in
2020 for DSMB and 2021 for DSM

A-1

     Each Continuing Director has been a Dreyfus Family of Funds board member for at least 20 years. Additional information about the Continuing Directors follows (supplementing the information provided in the table above) that describes some of the specific experiences, qualifications, attributes or skills that the Continuing Directors possess which the Board believes has prepared them to be effective Directors.

Joan L. Gulley— Ms. Gulley served in various senior roles at PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (“PNC”) from 1993 until her retirement in 2014, including Chief Executive Officer of PNC Advisors, the wealth management and institutional services business of PNC, from 2002 to 2005, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of PNC from 2002 to 2007, and Executive Vice President (“EVP”) and Chief Human Resources Officer (“CHRO”) of PNC from 2008 until 2014. In her role as EVP and CHRO of PNC, Ms. Gulley was responsible for the oversight of $8 billion in combined pension and 401(k) assets. Ms. Gulley also served as a member of PNC’s Executive Committee from 2008 to 2014, where she participated in all key strategic and operational decisions affecting PNC, and was responsible for all staff support to the PNC Board’s Personnel and Compensation Committee with respect to executive compensation, succession planning, talent management, human resource regulatory matters and diversity. Prior to joining PNC, Ms. Gulley held positions with The Massachusetts Company, a chartered bank and subsidiary of The Travelers Insurance Company, which was acquired by PNC in 1993, and with branches of the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston, Massachusetts and Washington D.C. Ms. Gulley currently serves as a board member and member of the audit committee of Pennsylvania American Water, a subsidiary of the American Water Company, which is a public water company operating in the U.S. and Canada.

Burton N. Wallack— Mr. Wallack is President and co-owner of Wallack Management Company, a real estate management company that provides financial reporting and management services. He also serves as a board member for Mount Sinai Hospital Urology.

Benaree Pratt Wiley— Ms. Wiley is a Principal of The Wiley Group, a firm specializing in personnel strategy, talent management and leadership development primarily for global insurance and consulting firms. Prior to that, Ms. Wiley served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Partnership, Inc., a talent management organization for multicultural professionals in the greater Boston region. Ms. Wiley currently serves on the board of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. She has also served on the boards of several public companies and charitable organizations, including serving as chair of the advisory board of PepsiCo African-American.

A-2

Nominees’ and the Continuing Directors'Directors’ Ownership of Fund Shares.Shares. The table below indicates the dollar range of the Nominees'Nominees’ and the Continuing Directors'Directors’ ownership of shares of each Fund'sFund’s Common Stock and shares of other funds in the Dreyfus Family of Funds, in each case as of December 31, 2017.2018.

Nominee.

Mr. Howard was appointed to each Fund’s Board in May 2018 and did not own any shares of either Fund.

As of December 31, 2017,2018, none of the Nominees or the Continuing Directors or their immediate family members owned securities of Dreyfus or any person (other than a registered investment company) directly or indirectly controlling, controlled by or under common control with Dreyfus.

PERTAINING TO THE BOARD OF EACH FUND

• ·Each Fund held eight Board meetings, eight audit committee meetings and oneandone nominating committee meeting during the Fund'sFund’s last fiscal year. The litigationThelitigation and pricing committees did not meet during the last fiscal year.

• ·The Funds do not have a formal policy regarding Directors'Directors’ attendance at annualatannual meetings of stockholders. Directors did not attend last year's annual meetingyear’s annualmeeting of stockholders.

Compensation Table. The amount of compensation paid to each Continuing Director by DSMB for its fiscal year ended November 30, 2017,2018, and by DSM for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2017,2018, and the aggregate amount of compensation paid to such Continuing Director by all funds in the Dreyfus Family of Funds for which the Continuing Director was a board member during 2017,2018, was as follows*:follows:

A-4

PART II

Part II sets forth information regarding the officers of the Funds. Each officer
of the Funds holds office for an indefinite term until his or her successor is elected
and has qualified.

A-5

A-6

A-7

PART III

Part III sets forth information for each Fund regarding the beneficial ownership of its shares as of April 6, 201810, 2019 by Nominees, the Continuing Directors and officers of the Fund owning shares on such date and by any stockholders owning 5% or more of a class of the Fund'sFund’s outstanding shares.

As of April 6, 2018,10, 2019, none of the Nominees, the Continuing Directors or officers of a Fund owned any shares of Common Stock or APS.

To each Fund'sFund’s knowledge, based on Schedule 13G filings as of December 31, 2017,April 10, 2019, the following information with respect to beneficial ownership of more than 5% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock and/or outstanding shares of APS has been reported.

DSMB