Orleans sees $600K growth in sales tax revenue in 2023

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 February 2024 at 10:51 am

Sales tax up more than $5 million in the county since 2019

Orleans County continues to see growth in its sales tax revenue. The state comptroller reported the county’s sales tax collection went up more than $600,000 from $22.46 million in 2022 to $23.10 million last year.

That continues a streak of sizable increases in the local sales tax, which has now grown by more than $5 million since 2019.

$23.1 million in 2023
$22.5 million in 2022
$21.8 million in 2021
$19.4 million in 2020
$17.7 million in 2019

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli reported that 50 of the 57 counties outside New York City experienced growth in the local sales tax in 2023.

Here are the changes among the four rural GLOW counties:

Genesee up 2.4 percent from $54.87 million in 2022 to $56.20 million in 2023
Livingston up 6.9 percent from $44.79 million in 2022 to $47.89 million in 2023
Orleans up 2.8 percent from $22.46 million in 2022 to $23.10 million in 2023
Wyoming up 5.1 percent from $24.77 million in 2022 to $26.03 million in 2023

Sullivan County had the largest increase among counties in the state at 11.6%, followed by the counties of Schoharie (10.9%), Chenango (7.9%) and Schuyler (7.8%), DiNapoli reported.

Yates County saw the steepest decline in collections (-5.6%), followed by the counties of Cayuga (-2.5%), Steuben (-1.5%) and Rockland (-1.4%).

Local government sales tax collections in the state totaled $23 billion in calendar year 2023, up 4.2%, or $919 million, from 2022, largely influenced by growth in New York City sales taxes, DiNapoli said.

NYC’s sales tax growth of 5.9% in 2023 exceeded the amount for the counties and cities in the rest of the state (2.4%). NYC accounts for about 40mpercent of the state-wide total. NYC’s growth was boosted by increases in domestic and international tourism, which approached pre-pandemic levels this past holiday season, the state comptroller stated.

“Growth in local sales tax collections statewide moderated in 2023, following two years of double-digit increases,” DiNapoli said. “The fluctuations in sales tax collections that characterized the pandemic period have subsided. Local officials should plan for sales tax revenue with more stable and modest growth rates.”

In 2020, during the peak of the Covid pandemic, sales tax collections were down 10 percent statewide, and then increased by 19.1 percent in 2021, 12.7 percent in 2022 and then 4.2 percent in 2023.