(Photo Source: Unsplash).
Cortland County closed 2021 with approximately $37 million in sales tax collection, which is close to $8.7 million more than county officials projected in the 2021 budget.
According to documents from a recent county finance and administration meeting, 46 percent of the total revenue will be distributed among municipalities within the county. The remaining 54 percent will go to the county, with an additional intake of $1.5 million from the total sales tax share.
The county had a strong fourth quarter in sales tax collections, amassing approximately $9 million.
Based on fourth quarter earnings, which contracted down to close to $8.7 million after a “direct deduction for county purposes,” municipalities will receive $4 million in payments, according to an item found in the meeting’s agenda.
The city of Cortland will receive approximately $1.5 million. The town of Cortlandville will garner the second-most in sales tax, raking in close to $750,000. The town of Homer will secure roughly $261,000, the third-most among municipalities.
(Photo Source: Cortland County Office of Budget and Finance).
A resolution unanimously approved by the finance and administration committee on Tuesday indicates that the individual municipalities have opted to apply a portion of their sales tax to off-set the property tax levy, which is at $700,000. That amount was withheld from quarterly sales tax distributions.
A county-wide sales tax rate of 4% is applicable to localities in Cortland County, in addition to the 4% New York State sales tax, according to the SalesTax Handbook. The maximum sales tax rate of 8 percent in Tompkins County is higher than that of 69 percent of New York counties. It is also higher than that of 70 percent of counties nationwide.
County administrator Rob Corpora said there are many factors that influenced the influx of sales tax.
Corpora listed “the price of gasoline, sales tax now being collected on internet sales, rising prices of almost everything, and stimulus checks going out to most people to spend any way they want.” as potential factors.
During the county’s 2022 budget presentation on Oct. 10, Corpora had said there were initial estimations that the county could collect more than it was budgeting for. The county administrator noted that changes in spending habits have complicated the situation.
“COVID-19 has changed the spending patterns of many people so trying to predict the way people are spending money is far less accurate than in the past,” Corpora said. “We will continue to budget conservatively for sales tax. Although we did increase the 2022 budgeted amount to $33,500,000, there was considerable money being distributed to the masses to help the economy. Now, that has stopped so may the spending (as well). We will continually be evaluating the trends and adjusting accordingly when creating future county budgets”
Through the same resolution approved Tuesday, the county treasurer is set to deposit $375,000 in reserve accounts.
During the committee meeting, county finance director Andrea Herzog broke down the county’s sales tax earnings compared to previous years.
“Sales tax for the year 2021 was up almost 20 percent from 2020, and up 19 percent from 2019,” she said.
Herzog added that the county is also paying year two of the state’s two-year installment to support financially distressed nursing homes and hospitals. This fund is called the Distressed Provider Assistance Account. Cortland County will pay $320,000 for it.
The county will also contribute $180,000 toward funding close to 1,300 towns and villages across the state, as part of the state’s aid and incentives to municipalities (AIM) payments. In 2019, counties across New York contribute to a pool of funds retrieved from their sales tax collections to provide aid to towns and villages throughout the state, according to the New York Association of County’s website.
The resolutions voted on during the finance and administration committee meeting will be subject to legislature approval during the next Thursday’s legislative meeting.
