Orleans sales tax revenue up $340K first half of 2026, the slowest growth in GLOW
County has seen sales tax revenue jump by $8 million since 2019
Photo by Tom Rivers: Downtown Medina is shown in a recent photo. Medina’s Main Street is a vibrant business district.
ALBION – Orleans County continues to see growth in the local sales tax revenue, but not at the pace of the other rural GLOW counties.
The state comptroller has highlighted the sales tax revenue for the first half of the year among counties in the state, as well as the overall state growth.
Orleans County, in the first six months of 2026, is up by 2.8 percent or $340,000 from $12.41 million to $12.75 million.
Orleans is coming off a big sales tax year in 2025 when revenues jumped 9.3 percent or nearly $2.2 million from $23.42 million in 2024 to $25.59 million in 2025.
The revenue helps the county offset increases and helps hold down property taxes at the county level. The County Legislature also shares $1,366,671 with the 10 towns and four villages, a level that has been unchanged since 2001. The towns and villages collectively receive about 5 percent of the total.
The county has seen steady growth in sales tax in recent years. It has now gone up nearly $8 million from the $17.7 in 2019 to the $25.6 million last year.
Orleans County sales tax revenues
- $25.6 million in 2025
- $23.4 million in 2024
- $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
The comptroller’s office said overall inflation, including much-higher gas and fuel prices in 2026, are a factor in higher sales tax revenue so far in 2026, compared to 2025.
Aggregate sales tax collections for counties grew by 5.7 percent in the first half of 2026, year over year, with 52 of 57 counties outside of New York City experienced increases in first-half collections. More than half of those counties saw growth exceed 5 percent.
Among the GLOW counties, the growth in Orleans County is lagging behind.
- Genesee County is up 12.5 percent from $27.78 million to $31.26 million, an increase of $3.48 million
- Livingston up by 5.2 percent from $22.48 million to $23.64 million, an increase of $1.16 million
- Orleans up by 2.8 percent from $12.41 million to $12.75 million, up by $340,000
- Wyoming increased by 9.2 percent from $12.80 million to $13.97 million, an increase of $1.17 million
Neighboring Monroe County only saw 0.5 percent growth from $321.0 to $322.7 million, while another neighbor to Orleans, Niagara, is up 8.9 percent from $85.23 million to $92.78 million, according to the state comptroller.
