Schoharie County sales tax revenues dropped $1 million in 2009, losses Treasurer Bill Cherry said he expects mid-year spending cuts to absorb.
But, he cautioned, things look just as grim for ’10.
Sales tax revenues for ’09 totaled $12,400,625, compared to $13,412,828 in ’08, a 7.6 percent decease and part of a trend:
Total New York State revenues for the year were down 5.84 percent with, in the Capital Region, Mongtomery County taking the biggest hit, 9.51 percent, and Fulton County doing the “best” with a 5.57 percent drop.
Mr. Cherry said the county’s “unprecedented” losses came as no surprise; based on figures he started seeing the last quarter of 2008 and projections for ’09, it was last March that he sounded the alarm to the Board of Supervisors.
“It was sort of the beginning of the end of my relationship with them,” he said. “If we had gone on as usual, we’d obviously be in even worse shape.”
Though it’s too soon to say for sure if the cuts will be enough to cover the sales tax losses, Mr. Cherry said his “gut” feeling is yes—for this year.
He’s budgeted $12.5 million in sales tax revenues for 2010—the last year the county took in that low a figure was ’04—but with costs continuing to increase, unless additional cuts are made, the county will have no choice but to start drawing down its $4 million fund balance, he said.
“Maybe that will buy us a year of breathing room,” in the $75 million budget, he said, adding, “It’s a tourniquet, not a bandage.”
Mr. Cherry said he expects the real difficulties to come in 2011-12, when he predicted the county will need to find an extra $3-$4 million just to maintain services.
“Raising taxes won’t generate new revenue,” he said. “People can’t pay their taxes now. We need to look at cutting expenses. In times like these, county government needs to go back to basics.”
In June, Mr. Cherry resigned as budget officer after supervisors refused to take his advice on cuts; the job was then handed to Social Services Commissioner Paul Brady and Planning Director Alicia Terry—who voiced similar concerns when they presented their 2010 budget in October.
The budget keeps 22 fulltime and 11 part-time positions vacant, expected to save $1.1 million.
Limiting purchases and other expenses is expected to save another $100,000.