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COUNTY SALES TAX REVENUES DECLINE ONLY SLIGHTLY
Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News
09-07-09 – 12:30 p.m. - Columbia County and its municipalities are receiving less in sales tax revenue this year, but the decrease is not nearly as great as one might expect during the “Great Recession.”
Through mid-August, the county has collected $17,116,497 in sales tax, a 2.5 percent decline in collections from the same time last year, according to County Treasurer Ken Wilber. The county’s sales tax revenue comes from its 4 percent sales tax, which is added on to the 4 percent collected by the state, and portions of the total revenue are distributed to the towns and City of Hudson. |
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The third quarter of the fiscal year is typically a critical period for the county, either shoring up the revenue line that accounts for about 15 percent of Columbia County’s overall finances each year or creating a fiscal gap that cannot be closed by the end of the year. This year the third quarter will be especially critical. “The third quarter is going to be a make-or-break quarter,” said Wilber.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer (R-Hillsdale) added that "the third quarter is going to be critical, though given what has happened with Lowe’s, Walmart, and some of the other major retailers, I am not expecting it to be too good." Baer was referring to national reports of declining sales from the big box retailers.
On the municipal level, budget officers are likewise keeping a sharp eye on their collections. Chatham Supervisor Jesse DeGroodt said he was cautiously optimistic that his town’s share of the county sales tax collections, while down for the first two quarters, would rebound enough to meet the expectations of his town’s $3.17 million 2009 budget. “There hasn’t been any wild fluctuation in our sales tax. Nothing like we saw when this first started [last year],” said DeGroodt. “Hopefully, it will continue” to remain near the budgeted amounts.
On the county level, Wilber said several factors may help offset earlier sales tax losses and bolster the financial bottom line for the third quarter. Notable among those factors are the opening of the new Lowe’s and Walmart stores in Greenport and the boost local car dealers received from the “Cash for Clunkers” stimulus program. ”There are a number of variables that . . . you just really can’t figure at this time,” said Wilber.
Baer said he was concerned that the increased sales tax revenues from the opening of the Lowe’s and Walmart stores would be offset by a decline in sales at other retailers of similar products in the county. ”I don’t know how much we will really gain,” said Baer.
Also potentially reducing the pain of this year’s so far $440,000 decline in sales tax revenues is conservative budgeting of the revenues by the Board of Supervisors last year. The 2009 budget projects $27 million in sales tax revenue, which the board reduced from $28 million budgeted last year based on the economic downturn that started in the last half of 2008. “That provides some room to work with” said Wilber.
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