County treasurer: sales tax up about $218,000; committee has no quorum

County Treasurer Terry Ross told the Budget Committee that sales tax receipts rose about $218,000 from last month and that collections are “just under 4% above where we were last year at this time.”

Ross said that if the current pace holds “we will make budget at $30,500,000,” and noted the committee had originally budgeted about $28,500,000, meaning the county could finish the year a couple million dollars ahead. Ross also told members the county delegation at the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) has discussed sales-tax categories but that a county-level breakdown is not yet available. “Once we have that, we will, obviously, share that with you guys about what categories are hitting the mark,” Ross said.

The announcement came after the chair noted the committee did not have a quorum and that the group would skip approval of the agenda and minutes. With no quorum present, the committee discussed the treasurer’s report but took no formal votes or approvals. A motion to adjourn was offered and seconded; however, no formal roll-call vote was recorded in the meeting transcript.

Committee members asked a brief question about the 4% increase; Ross answered that the figure is current year-over-year and that there are a “few months left” in the fiscal year to determine final results. Ross described the change in absolute terms as roughly $218,000 and also referred to an approximate cumulative figure of about $700,000 in the same segment of his report.

Next steps recorded in the discussion included Ross or county staff providing a county-level sales tax breakdown from NYSAC data when it becomes available. Because the meeting lacked a quorum, no budget adjustments or formal directives were adopted during this session.