Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan.
ALBANY – Wednesday is the final day of the 2015 legislative session in Albany and lawmakers are expected to rush through a series of legislation throughout the day and into the evening. Among the items expected to be acted on by both the Senate and the Assembly is the request by Chautauqua County to increase its sales tax by .5 percent.
Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan has pushed for the increase since the start of this year, when he first brought it forward during his state of the county speech. Horrigan says the sales tax increase is necessary in order to help close a looming multi-million budget gap. This week he reiterated his stand, saying without a sales tax increase, the county would likely have to raise property taxes in 2016, and county property owners have already been taxed enough.
“Throughout Western New York, we are the only county below 8 percent with our sales tax,” Horrigan said. “But what that’s caused, when it was pushed down [10 years ago], it resulted in an increase in local property taxes, and those taxes are 72 cents (per $1,000 assessed value) higher, on average, than our neighboring counties here in Western New York.”
Horrigan also said that while no one is in favor of raising any kind of tax, it is necessary in order to balance the county budget, which is made up of 80 percent of state mandates like Medicaid and other social services the county has no control over.
Some have said that the sales tax increase is a regressive tax that will overburden the county’s poor and low income residents, but Horrigan disagrees.
“First of all, $110 dollar clothing exemption remains. the exemption for energy costs remains. There is no tax on unprepared food. And then I consider, ‘What about jobs and job growth?’ Everyone needs that and we have a higher than I would like to see unemployment, and more jobs is an opportunity for those in poverty to get out of poverty.”
Horrigan and the county legislature have promised the state that if it grants permission for the sales tax increase, the county will reduce property taxes by at least 2 percent in 2016, if not lower, while also remaining committed to no tax increase in 2017.
The state is required to give the county permission prior to any sales tax hike going into effect. The current sales tax in Chautauqua County is 7.5 percent. A half percent increase would push it up to 8 percent.
Horrigan made his comments during an interview this week on WRFA, which will air during our weekly Community Matters program at 5 p.m. Thursday, June 18.
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