Home > Leadership > Mayor > Archive Press Releases > 2006 Archives > February 2006 > Mayor Brown Hails Association of Erie County Governments' Vote

Mayor Brown Hails Association of Erie County Governments' Vote

Source/Contact
Office of the Mayor
Peter K. Cutler
Director of Communications
716-851-4841

County's Elected Leaders Vote Overwhelmingly for Greater Share of Sales Tax

BUFFALO – The Association of Erie County Governments, an organization comprising the elected leaders of the county's cities, towns and villages, voted late this afternoon 24-8 to support a resolution submitted by Mayor Brown, which calls for the organization's support of state Assembly Majority Leader Paul Tokasz' legislation that provides for a sharing of the county's extra 1% sales tax.

"This was a significant moment in our county's history, where the vast majority of the county's elected leaders of its cities, towns and villages came together and said they want sales tax revenue that they deserve," said Mayor Brown. "These leaders know well the difficulties they have faced with declining property values, which translates into loss of revenue both from property tax and sales tax. With this vote, they have said loud and clear that they want the revenue they need to better manage their respective municipalities. I call on the county legislature and the state legislature to heed the decision of these elected leaders."

Affirmative votes came from the following municipalities: the Cities of Buffalo, Lackawanna, Tonawanda; the Towns of Brant, Cheektowaga, Clarence, Eden, Elma, Grand Island, Hamburg, Lancaster, Marilla, Orchard Park, Tonawanda and West Seneca; and the Villages of Angola, Blasdell, Depew, Farnham, Hamburg, Kenmore, North Collins, Sloan and Springville.

Notable no votes came from the Towns of Amherst, Concord, Holland and Newstead.

Mayor Brown's resolution is attached.

The Association's meeting took place late this afternoon at the Town of West Seneca's Town Hall.

"If the county's municipalities get their fair share of the sales tax revenue, we can use it as we see fit to spend on badly needed services, reduce the property tax in our cities, towns and villages, and support initiatives that our citizens want," said Mayor Brown. "As I have stated repeatedly, this is both an issue of fairness and regional stabilization. It should not be lost on any observer that this vote crossed city, town and village boundaries, as well as political affiliations. It was a tremendous demonstration of unity and common purpose by the county's elected leaders."

Association of Erie County Governments Resolution
January 26, 2006
Revised February 1, 2006
Submitted by Mayor Byron W. Brown
City of Buffalo

Whereas, In 1977 the cities of Buffalo, Lackawanna and the City of Tonawanda and the County of Erie entered into an agreement pursuant to Section 1210 of the New York State Tax Law to allocate the three percent of the sales tax available for the use of local governments.

Whereas, This 1977 agreement contains an allocation of sales tax revenue among the local governments in Erie County that was the product of negotiation and approval by the cities and the county. The allocation provided for a sharing of such sales tax with the County of Erie receiving 35.3055%, the three cities sharing 10.0087%, all municipalities sharing 25.6858% and the remainder shared by the school districts in the county. It was understood that in exchange for this agreement, the County would assume financial responsibility for the libraries, public benefit agencies primarily the Erie County Medical Center and cultural institutions in the county.

Whereas, in 1984 the County was in severe financial stress. It balanced its 1984 budget through emergency deficit financing that was specially authorized by New York State. In addition, the state authorized the county to impose an additional 1% sales tax for a period of one year with all revenue derived from such additional tax going exclusively to the County of Erie.

Whereas, since 1984, the additional 1% sales tax has been renewed each year with the entire proceeds going to the County. Since 1984 this has generated almost $2 billion for county use.

Whereas, since 1984 other municipalities in the County have suffered severe financial stress. The City of Buffalo has suffered a loss of almost one-third of its tax base, losing more than $2.5 billion of assessed value. It has also had a financial control board imposed by New York State. It is near its constitutional taxing limit. There has been a hiring and wage freeze in the City of Buffalo since April 2004, the workforce continues to decline and services have been curtailed. Other municipalities have and are suffering financial difficulties also.

Whereas, The City of Buffalo is the host of a large number of regional projects such as the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, the Inner Harbor development project, the Bass Pro project, and the Seneca Niagara Casino, that are now developing. These projects will produce significant new sales tax collections, but will not produce significant property tax revenue in the near future, if at all.

Whereas, The County of Erie has closed five libraries in the City of Buffalo and more in other communities in the County. In addition, the County cut almost $ 1 million from small to medium sized cultural institutions in the County. Most of these cultural institutions are in the City of Buffalo. The County has also tried to eliminate its subsidy for the Erie County Medical Center that now serves as the regional trauma center.

Whereas, The State of New York provided Erie County with relief of its Medicaid burden in 2005 and is now proposing significant new relief in 2006 and beyond. The proposed new relief will be worth approximately $30 million in the upcoming County fiscal year.

Whereas, Erie County increased the sales tax in January of this year by an additional ¾ of a percent exclusively for county purposes.

Whereas, Assembly Bill 9461 has been introduced into the New York State Assembly to authorize the extension of the additional 1% sales tax for a period of two years. The bill also provides that twenty-five percent of this sales tax shall be allocated to all the communities in Erie County in the manner contained in the 1977 Sales Tax agreement with Erie County retaining the remaining seventy-five percent. The sharing will commence in 2007 when the next County budget is enacted.

Whereas, The County of Erie has a budget in excess of $1 billion, and will have approximately one year to adjust to the loss of the approximately $30 million that will be shared with the municipalities should A 9461 be enacted.

Now, Therefore, be it resolved that, the Association of Erie County Governments goes on record in support of A 9461 and requests that this bill be promptly passed in the Assembly and Senate and be approved by Governor Pataki,

Be it Further Resolved that, this resolution be transmitted to the members of the Western New York delegations to the Assembly and Senate.