Medina, Holley villages see slight sales tax increase in latest apportionment from county

Villages and towns in Orleans share $1,366,671 – same amount since 2001

The Orleans County Legislature approved the 2023 sales tax apportionment for the 10 towns and four villages in the county.

They will again share $1,366,671 in sales tax. That amount to the towns and villages hasn’t changed since 2001 even though the sales tax revenue have seen big increases in recent years.

The county has used the big increase to stave off property tax increases while also addressing capital projects and infrastructure upgrades. The total local sales tax is about $20 million annually in Orleans County.

It has been rising recently with internet sales now taxed, higher inflation making goods and services more expensive, and higher gas prices for much of 2022.

The new amounts for the 10 towns in villages puts the total town share at $987,894 in 2023, down $3,157 from the $991,051 in 2022.

The villages are up $3,157 – from $375,620 to $378,777. Medina and Holley both will get more, while the villages of Albion and Holley are down slightly.

Charts compiled by the Orleans Hub.

The county every 10 years divvies up the shares among the towns and villages based on population. After that is set, the county in the following years will tweak the village and town amounts based on changes in taxable value in the municipalities. (That taxable value change doesn’t include Barre, Carlton, Clarendon and Kendall because they don’t have a village within their border.)

If a town’s tax base grows at a greater percentage than the village within that town’s borders, the town gets more of the sales tax and vice versa.

The villages generally see a steady decline in their sales tax because the towns’ tax base grows at a faster pace. In 2022, the village share dropped nearly $8,000. In 2013, the villages collectively received $404,661, nearly $26,000 more than they will get in 2023.

In Albion, the village hit a high of $211,669 in 2004. In 2022, it will receive $165,309, which is $46,360 less than in 2004.

In Holley, the village hit a high of $62,549 in 2002 – 21 years later it’s down to $46,545, a cut of $16,004.

Lyndonville was at $18,592 in 2002 and has dropped to $14,876 in 2023.

In Medina, the village received a high of $173,592 in 2002 and will be at $152,047 in 2023, a decline of $21,545.