Washington County towns to get more back in sales tax

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By Dan King

The Washington County Board of Supervisors voted Friday to allocate 7 percent of all total sales tax revenue back to the towns.

Under the previous policy, regardless of how much sales tax revenue the county brought in, it would distribute $1 million to the towns, dividing that money using a complex formula of population and assessed value.

“We’re changing the amount each town gets, not what you do with it,” said county attorney Roger Wickes. “After 2016 we’re no longer guaranteeing $1 million, just whatever 7 percent is.”

Based on 2013 figures, the new policy will increase the amount of money to the towns by $378.236. Towns will then have the ability to keep all of the money, some of the money or return it all to the county as a way of reducing the county tax levy.

Under the previous policy, the only town that returned its money to the county was Fort Ann.

Using the same 2013 figures, the bump from a flat $1 million distribution to a 7 percent distribution would mean an increase for every town in the county. Granville’s slice of the pie would increase by $23,756; Hartford, Hebron and Dresden would each see an increase of about $12,700; and Whitehall would increase by $10,589.

As for villages, Granville will see an additional $10,520 and Whitehall an additional $9,514.

Initially, the supervisors proposed upping the number to 8 percent, but that was shot down by a weighted vote of 1,301 yes, 2,229 no. Darlene Dumas of Fort Ann, Mitch Suprenant of Fort Edward, Brian Campbell of Hebron, James Lindsay of Kingsbury, Seth Pitts of Salem, Bob Shay of White Creek and George Gang of Dresden voted against the 8 percent measure.

Most local supervisors voted in favor of it, including Whitehall’s George Armstrong, Hampton’s Dave O’Brien and Hartford’s Dana Haff. Granville’s Matt Hicks was absent.

When the vote came on the 7 percent figure, only Gang, Pitts and Putnam’s John LaPointe voted against it.

O’Brien, who was texting with Hicks, said that Hicks approved of the measure as a way to reward towns for bringing in business.

“They (Granville Town Board) felt that in bringing in stores such as Big Lots and Tractor Supply, they put in a lot of work,” O’Brien said. “They felt a raise would reward them for that. I think it’s a good way to recognize the effort of villages and towns to bring in businesses.”

Gang and LaPointe opposed the measure because they felt it wasn’t good for the smallest populated towns. Both Dresden and Putnam have populations of under 700 based on 2010 census numbers.

The 7 percent tax distribution will go into effect next year.