{"id":9030,"date":"2013-06-22T07:14:20","date_gmt":"2013-06-22T11:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=9030"},"modified":"2013-06-22T09:53:53","modified_gmt":"2013-06-22T13:53:53","slug":"sales-tax-hikes-approved-in-4-north-country-counties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2013\/06\/22\/sales-tax-hikes-approved-in-4-north-country-counties\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales tax hike approved in St. Lawrence, Essex, Clinton, Franklin counties"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:<\/a>

Photo: CBshoots<\/a>, Creative Commons, some rights reserved<\/p><\/div>\n

In the final hours of the legislative session, North Country lawmakers pushed through sales tax hikes for four counties.<\/p>\n

The the largest was a 1 percent hike in St. Lawrence County.\u00a0 Essex County also boosted its sales tax by a quarter percent.<\/p>\n

Clinton and Franklin Counties saw their sales taxes extended by the state legislature.<\/p>\n

State Senator Joe Griffo released the following statement.<\/p>\n

\n
“I respect the home-rule wishes of the County leaders who have advocated in their desire to increase the sales tax.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As a former County Executive, I\u2019m very familiar with the challenges that municipalities face when confronted with rising, mandated costs and flat revenue projections. Every available option should be discussed, reviewed with the opportunity for a public discussion, before a tax increase is considered. Reductions, restructuring, and reassessments are an essential part of this process. The County Leaders have assured me and my colleagues in the Legislature, that all contingencies have been examined and that the best course of action, in their judgment,\u00a0 is to raise the sales tax instead property taxes.”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Senators Griffo and Patty Ritchie, and some county legislators, had been against raising the sales tax in St. Lawrence County. But this year’s budgeting process demonstrated the depth of the county’s financial hole. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned last month<\/a> that the county was “walking a financial tightrope”. In the end, the legislature unanimously supported the tax increase.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The question now will be what to do with the income. County leaders have suggested dropping property taxes 14% in one year. But in his press release, Griffo counseled a more gradual approach:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
I think it\u2019s incumbent upon the St. Lawrence County legislature to look to immediately plan a way to reduce the property tax burden in a fiscally-responsible way that reduces the rate over a regular set amount over the next three years. This will avoid roller-coaster budgeting.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

State Senator Betty Little’s office also released a summary of the changes in the four affected counties:<\/p>\n

(S.4531) Essex County authorized to increase local sales tax from 3 \u00be to 4
\npercent.<\/em><\/p>\n

The county of Essex is hereby further authorized and empowered to adopt and
\namend local laws, ordinances or resolutions imposing such taxes at a rate
\nwhich is [three-quarters of] one percent additional to the three percent
\nrate authorized above in this paragraph for such county\u00a0 for\u00a0 the period
\nbeginning [June] December first, two thousand [four] thirteen, and\u00a0 ending
\nNovember\u00a0 thirtieth,\u00a0 two\u00a0 thousand\u00a0\u00a0 [thirteen] fifteen;<\/em><\/p>\n

(S.5104) St. Lawrence County authorized to increase local sales tax from 3
\nto 4 percent.<\/p>\n


\nTo authorize St. Lawrence County to impose an additional one percent rate
\nof sales and compensating use taxes for the period beginning December 1,
\n2013 and ending November 30, 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n

(S.4462) Clinton County authorized to extend its 4 percent local sales tax.<\/p>\n

Section 1 would amend clause 36 of subparagraph (i) of the opening
\nparagraph of section 1210 of the Tax Law, which authorizes counties and
\ncities to impose sales and use taxes at specified rates, to authorize
\nClinton County to impose an additional 1% rate of such taxes for the period
\ncommencing December 1, 2013, and ending November 30, 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n

(S.4463) Franklin County authorized to extend its 4 percent local sales
\ntax.<\/p>\n

The county of Franklin is hereby further authorized and empowered to\u00a0 adopt
\nand amend local laws, ordinances or resolutions imposing such taxes at a
\nrate that is one percent additional to the three percent rate authorized
\nabove in this paragraph for such county for the period beginning June
\nfirst, two thousand six and\u00a0 ending\u00a0 November\u00a0 thirtieth,\u00a0 two\u00a0 thousand [
\nthirteen] fifteen.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the final hours of the legislative session, North Country lawmakers pushed through sales tax […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4819,4835],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9030"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9032,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9030\/revisions\/9032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}