402.2005
RESOLUTION CONCERNING ALLOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF
REVENUE FROM SALES AND USE TAXES TO VILLAGES WITHIN
WARREN COUNTY
RESOLUTION NO.: 402, 2005
INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Tim Brewer
WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION
SECONDED BY : Mr. Daniel Stec
,
WHEREAS residents on the east shore of Lake George have filed petitions for the
establishment of a Village in the Counties of Warren and Washington (the “proposed village”),
and
,
WHEREASthe proposed creation of a new village in Queensbury, Warren County,
appears to be an attempt to divert sales and use tax revenues from the Town as a whole to a
portion of the Town where such revenues are not earned, and
,
WHEREAS sales and use tax revenue is earned not by the basis of the value of a
person’s home, but based on the businesses and residents of the Town, and
,
WHEREAS the proposed village has a very small percentage of businesses and residents
that are located in the Town, and
WHEREAS, approximately two-percent (2%) of Town residents would be located within
the proposed village, and
,
WHEREAS it would appear that while governmental services are currently adequately
provided to all areas of the Town of Queensbury, including the east Lake George shore area of
the Town, and could continue to be so adequately provided, the creation of a village would
negatively impact the Town of Queensbury, as a whole in the future, since net collections from
sales and use taxes imposed by Warren County would be disproportionately redirected from
lower assessed neighborhoods (other areas of the Town) into higher assessed neighborhoods (the
area of the proposed village) under current sales and use tax revenue sharing formulas mandated
by State law, and
,
WHEREAS in addition, net collections of sales and use taxes imposed by Warren
County would be redirected from the areas of the Town where such taxes are earned and where
Town residents live to an area where a small proportion of such taxes are earned and residents
live, and
,
WHEREAS under the circumstances, it would appear fair, equitable and appropriate to
seek modification of the aforesaid State mandated sales and use tax revenue sharing formulas to
provide for a more equitable sharing of net collections between the proposed village and the
Town and between any other town and new villages that may be created under similar
circumstances in the future, and
,
WHEREAS the aforesaid request is not without precedent as the State Legislature
enacted legislation for Albany County (Tax Law § 1262-d, Chapter 296 of the Laws of 1981),
which provided for a distribution of net collections from sales taxes imposed by Albany County
between towns and villages in direct proportion to their respective populations, with the
exception of two (2) towns, where the amount paid to each village therein was based on the ratio
of the full evaluation of real property, and
,
WHEREAS another precedent for modification of the formula for sales tax revenue
distribution has been made before and enacted into law relating to Orange County and is already
included in Tax Law Section 1262(c), and
,
WHEREAS the State Legislature has in Tax Law Section 1262-c granted Broome
County authority to choose the method of allocation between a town and a village within that
town based on population or full valuation or a combination of both,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT
RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby requests that the New York State
Legislature enact an amendment to Tax Law Section 1262 to provide that net collections from
sales and use taxes imposed by Warren County (set aside for allocation to the towns and villages
therein) be distributed between the towns and their villages directly in proportion to their
respective populations, with the exception of the Village of Lake George in the Town of Lake
George, where the amount to be paid to the Village therein shall remain as historically
established (by the ratio that the full evaluation of real property in such Village bears to the full
evaluation of property in the entire Town), and
BE IT FURTHER,
RESOLVED, that nothing contained herein shall be deemed to request an amendment to
the formula under which the County currently distributes to towns, and
BE IT FURTHER,
,
RESOLVED that the Town Board authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor to take
any action necessary to effect this Resolution, and
BE IT FURTHER,
,
RESOLVED that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Clerk to
forward certified copies of this Resolution to Senator Elizabeth Little, Assemblywoman Teresa
Sayward, Clerk of the Warren County Board of Supervisors and the Association of Towns.
th
Duly adopted this 15 day of August, 2005, by the following vote:
AYES : Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec, Mr. Turner
NOES : Mr. Boor, Mr. Strough
ABSENT: None