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County Legislature Passes Resolution Authorizing Sales Tax Increase to 8.375 Percent
County now facing 20 instead of 64 percent property tax increase
by Margaret Sternberg
On June 19, 2007, two days before the NYS Assembly and Senate recessed, the County Legislature passed Senate and Assembly resolutions that allow the County to impose a higher sales tax. If the county opts to increase the sales tax, it will rise to 8.375 percent.
Also contained in the resolution was an extension of the sales tax increase that had been granted two years ago and was set to expire. Passage of the bills reduces what had been projected to be a 64 percent county property tax increase to roughly 20 percent.
The resolution stipulates that in exchange for allowing the county to raise taxes, the county will be required to form a new Real Property Tax Relief Commission to work with or be part of the recently authorized Putnam County Commission for Fiscal Vision and Accountability. The Commission will be charged with comprehensively examining the issue of real property taxes in the county and making recommendations as to how to reduce them. The commission will report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2008.
Legislators Vinny Tamagna and Tony Hay voted against the resolution, legislator Robert McGuigan was absent, and legislators Dan Birmingham, Regina Morini, Sam Oliverio, Mary Ellen Odell, Mary Conklin and Terry Intrary voted for it.
Legislator Tamagna explained he was voting against the resolution because of the "unreliability of what the sales tax is…that the resolution says we're looking to this to replace the real property, we could be looking at a higher sales tax, and if things don't go well, we still could be looking at raising the property tax. He added that he was mainly concerned about the impact a rise in sales tax could have on small businesses in the county.
Tamagna then pressed for an independent financial review, saying that he did not know what he would be basing the approval of the sales tax resolution on. Tamagna also questioned the makeup of the Commission and who would appoint the participants, suggesting that school superintendents be invited to attend as well as business communities' chambers of commerce, and local governments. He suggested that otherwise the Commission would merely be performing "due diligence."
Legislator Oliverio commended Senator Vincent Leibell, Assemblywoman Sandra Galef and County Executive Bob Bondi, calling them extremely supportive in the sales tax matter. Oliverio continued, "On the other side of the coin, Assemblyman Ball did absolutely nothing for us, and I am very disturbed by his lack of participation in the process, and his willingness to sink this request of an almost unanimous voice of this county legislature."
Legislator Intrary also commended Assemblywoman Galef as having "stepped up to the plate as needed." Intrary termed the sales tax the "least intrusive tax possible."
Legislator Birmingham called the tax "only a piece of a very big puzzle. It's not the cure to our financial issues." Birmingham said that he expected significant cuts would need to be made in the 2008 budget, even with the additional sales tax, and long-term he suggested that the County look at how to phase out both the tax increase and the sales tax increase of two years ago, which would, if feasible, decrease sales tax by 1 percent total. He also acknowledged the sales tax rise's impact on small business, but said he felt the tax was needed at this point.
Birminghamdescribedthesalestaxrisesa"necessarystepandonethat'sprudent,butinthelongtermweshouldputtogether aplan…towean ourselves off of this [sales tax increases] because once we get it we should always look at it as money that might not be here again," ending that getting approval for the sales tax increase this year had been like "birthing a child," to which Legislator Morini asked "how would you know," which ended the meeting in a burst of laughter.
On June 21, the State Assembly passed the bill that would allow the County to make the increase.
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