The State Capitol, Albany NY.
ALBANY – The State legislature’s session will wrap up this week with plenty of items still left to be acted on. Among those is a request by Chautauqua County to increase its sales tax by .5 percent. According to county executive Vince Horrigan, the increase is necessary to help close a looming multi-million budget gap without having to increase property taxes. In fact, Horrigan says that if the sales tax were increased by half-a-percent, it would result in property taxes going down by as much as 2 percent, if not more.
State assemblyman Andy Goodell told WRFA over the weekend that the Assembly will take up the sales tax increase request this week. He said it is typically for legislation that addresses local issues to be put off until the end of the session, prior to being acted on.
Lawmakers anticipate tackling legislation deemed necessary, much of which pertains to New York City interests. Among them are rent control and mayoral control of New York City schools. An effort by Assembly Democrats and Cuomo to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 seems stalled. A proposal to change the way sexual assault allegations are handled on college campuses appears to have better odds.
It’s not known what day the sales tax request will be acted on. The legislative session ends on Wednesday, June 17.
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. clothing purchases of $100 or less are exempt.
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