In this day and age, providing residents with less voting rights sounds preposterous, but with no Erie County law makers on the ballot this year, that is exactly what voters will be asked to do in November. There is a local proposition on the ballot that, if it passes, will change the way the temporary sales taxes for Erie County is imposed and it eliminates the public’s right to vote on approving it that has been in place since Erie County increased sales tax to 8% in 1985.
Under the current structure, all counties in New York State can charge a 7% sales tax. Any increase above 7% is considered temporary and must be approved every few years. For almost 40 years, that process in Erie County is achieved by either a supermajority (bipartisan) vote of the county legislature or by a simple majority vote of the legislature that must be approved by the taxpayers at a public voter referendum.
In 2023, this was exactly the case. County Executive Poloncarz knew that asking the taxpayers of Erie County to approve a referendum that would increase sales tax by 1.75%, particularly in an election year, may not be a popular move and could make his reelection more difficult. Consequently, he began negotiations with me and the other members of the legislature’s minority caucus to garner our support. We understood that killing the sales tax extension would likely bankrupt Erie County and basic services, such as plowing, road maintenance, and our parks maintenance, would be the first items cut. Since sales tax is shared with local municipalities and school districts, it would leave large holes in their budgets that would result in either property tax increases or austerity budgets.
Overall, the negotiations went very smoothly, and a deal was brokered that delivered true tax relief to the residents of Erie County. The property tax levy, the actual hard dollars collected by Erie County, was reduced for the first time in a generation. Additionally, residents would see sales tax suspended on their home heating for the months of December, January and February.
Unlike past negotiations with the County Executive, there were no irate X (Twitter) rants or sophomoric name-calling. In fact, the County Executive and every legislator boasted about the success of the bipartisan agreement and based much of their campaign literature on delivering these tax reliefs to the residents of Erie County. It seemed like good governance and Erie County was working properly for the people that elected us.
That was until May of 2024, when a new law was introduced to eliminate the public’s oversight to extend temporary sales tax. Eliminating the need to work with a bipartisan legislature is typical petty politics that, sadly, people have come to expect from politicians. However, eliminating the oversight of the voter through a referendum was shocking additional to the bill.
Stripping taxpayer oversight through the elimination of a public referendum as a check-and-balance to a legislative simple majority is a remarkable power-grab. It is not a power-grab from political opponents, but from the voters of Erie County.
If you believe that you should maintain the right to vote by public referendum of “temporary” sales tax increases and it should not be a rubber-stamp, you must vote NO on the Erie County ballot proposition to change the Erie County Charter.
If you have a county related issue, contact my office at 716-858-8676, or by email Christopher.Greene@erie.gov
