SALES TAXES DECLINE; FORECLOSURES UNCHANGED

Mike McCagg

ccSCOOP News

04-02-10 - 12:45 p.m. - The economic decline continues to impact the county’s revenues, but one indicator remains unchanged.

Columbia County sales tax receipts through March were down “a little more than 4 percent” compared with last year, county Treasurer Ken Wilber told ccSCOOP. Sales tax accounts for about 15 percent of the overall revenue each year. However, Wilber said, another factor in measuring the impact of the recession on an area—property tax foreclosures— has remained unchanged throughout the two-year economic downturn. “There’s been no discernable increase that we can measure,” Wilber said. “We get usually one per year, and that’s what we have continued to see.”

Wilber reasoned that the county has not seen more because of a couple of factors: property owners in financial difficulties are typically foreclosed on first by their mortgage holders, and the county does offer payment plans if a property owner is in danger of losing his or her home because of unpaid taxes. As far as the latter, Wilber said there has been an increase in recent years in those seeking payment plans.

As to the sales tax decline, the county treasurer said it’s hard at this time to read the long-term results of the decline. “It’s early yet,” he said, adding the county collected $29.6 million in sales tax receipts last year and budgeted $27 million for this year, the same amount budgeted for last year. That figure represents a $1 million decrease from revenue projections included in the 2008 county budget. The county collects its 4 percent sales tax (which is added to the 4 percent collected by the state) and then distributes a portion of the sales tax to the towns and to the City of Hudson. A decrease in the county’s receipts will undoubtedly impact towns and municipalities.

Chatham Supervisor Jesse DeGroodt said that thus far, the sale tax payments to Chatham have been “on par” with the budgeted amount. “We haven’t had any problems. We are where we expected to be so far,” he said.

At this point in 2009, the Town of Chatham was dealing with “wild fluctuations” in sales tax receipts that threatened to impact the town’s $3.19 million budgeted revenue line. Last year’s county sales tax receipts where undoubtedly boosted by the opening of the Lowe’s and Walmart stores in Greenport and by an increase in car sales resulting from the “Cash for Clunkers” stimulus program.

No such boosts are foreseen at this point for this year.