Essex County starts toward higher sales tax

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September 3, 2008

By LOHR McKINSTRY The Press Republican Wed Sep 03, 2008, 12:00 AM EDT

ELIZABETHTOWN -- Essex County is asking the state to write legislation authorizing an extra one-half percent county sales tax.

The second step would be to submit a Home Rule law bill for the increase to the legislature, but some members of the County Board of Supervisors said Tuesday they have serious concerns about adding a new tax.

DIVIDING THE REVENUE

The tax-increase proposal came from Supervisor Roby Politi (R-North Elba), who moved a resolution Tuesday to request that the State Department of Taxation and Finance draft the enabling legislation.

The one-half percent increase would take the county sales tax from 434 to 514 percent. Adding on the state's 4-percent sales tax, that would give Essex County an 814-percent sales tax, the highest in the region.

Under Politi's plan, one-quarter percent of the new tax would go to Essex County to offset capital-project debt, and one-quarter percent would be distributed to towns in the county, using a formula of population and assessed value.

That formula would give Politi's town, North Elba, the lion's share of the new tax.

CONCERNS

But Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava (R-Moriah) said Essex County has a $20 million fund balance and might be able to achieve a formula similar to Politi's without a sales-tax hike.

"Most of the counties around us are at 8 percent (sales tax)," Scozzafava said. "I'd like to take this back to my town. I'd like to see more of a thought process go into this than just sending it to Albany asking for permission."

Supervisors William Ferebee (R-Keene) and Daniel Connell (D-Westport) both said they also wanted more time to discuss the increase with their constituents.

But only five out of 18 supervisors were opposed to the tax request when a vote was taken, and County Attorney Daniel Manning III said he will contact Albany. Supervisors Scozzafava, Ferebee, Connell, Cathy Moses (R-Schroon) and David Blades (R-Lewis) voted no.

FIRST STEP ONLY

Manning stressed that it's just the first step of several, however. He said the county's legislative representatives would have to agree to introduce the legislation once it's written, then the county would have to request the enactment of the bill, and once passed and signed by the governor, the county would have to pass by a two-thirds vote a resolution increasing the sales tax.

"You're not going to get anything done by the end of the year," Manning said.

It would probably be February before a bill could be introduced, he said.

With hard financial times ahead for many people, Scozzafava said, a sales-tax increase might be the wrong way to go.

"We haven't had any discussion about ways to cut, just ways to find more revenue. We should be looking for ways to save some more money."

County Manager Daniel Palmer recommended at least asking that the legislation be drafted.

Palmer said there's no capital fund in place for the county to replace highway equipment or pay for a new radio system, which the one-quarter percent rise might cover.

"That number that looks like a huge fund balance may not be that much of a fund balance if you put it into capital reserve."

Supervisor Gerald Morrow (D-Chesterfield) said that if it had to be one or the other he'd favor adding to the sales tax instead of the property tax.

"We do have an unreal low (county) property tax. If you have to raise your county tax (instead of sales tax), you're not gaining anything."

He said some surrounding counties have double Essex County's tax rate of $2.21 per $1,000 of assessment.

lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com