County uses formula to direct sales tax away from municipalities that need it most

Photos by Tom Rivers

Downtown Medina may be a center for commerce, collecting lots of sales tax, but little of that comes back to Medina or any of the villages that are population and business centers.

Orleans County’s four villages, which are desperately in need of revenue, won’t be getting any help from the county with added sales tax. In fact, the county’s sales tax formula will take money away from the villages next year.

That means the villages will likely have to hike property taxes or find more ways to cut costs or reduce services.

The county has budgeted to take in nearly $15 million in sales tax next year. It shares $1,366,671 with the 10 towns and four villages. The county keeps nearly $14 million for itself or about 92 percent of the total haul.

The county has frozen the village and town share since 2001. Since that time the sales tax has soared due to the rising gas prices and other cost of living increases, as well as an invasion of chain stores, including a Walmart Supercenter in Albion.

The county won’t give more to the towns and villages, saying the county needs the money for mandated programs from the state, such as Medicaid. The county will often gripe about the state not increasing reimbursements, but the county hasn’t increased the share to the villages and towns for 13 years now.

When the villages and town make some noise about the unfairness of the frozen rate, the county typically responds by threatening to keep all of the sales tax, cutting the villages and towns entirely. Rather than have an open dialogue about the issue, the county is a bully when it comes to sales tax.

Other counties share far more with their local municipalities. Genesee, for example, does a 50-50 split. That’s the main reason why their town and village tax rates are so much lower, and so much more attractive to businesses and families. Many of the towns don’t collect any property taxes because of all the sales tax they receive based on the generous formula.

Genesee and Orleans have almost the same county tax rates. Genesee will tax its residents $10.04 per $1,000 of assessed property while it’s a $10.11-rate in Orleans in 2014. The Orleans County tax rate isn’t out of line compared to most counties.

It’s our village tax rates, which range from about $14 in Holley to nearly $17 in Albion and Medina, that are far out of whack to most other villages in the state. Lyndonville’s rate at $10.43 is less because it doesn’t have a police department. (The village does contract for police protection.)

The County Legislature meets in the County Clerks Building, another tax exempt property in the village of Albion. The county unfairly uses taxable value to determine sales tax shares to villages and towns.

It would be easy to blame the local village officials for the high tax rates, but it’s really the fault of the county for sharing so little of the sales tax.

And it keeps getting worse for the villages. The county bases the villages’ revenue share based on taxable value. The villages with their shrinking assessments continue to see their amount go down while the towns get more.

In 2013, the four villages collectively received $404,666 in sales tax, which is a paltry amount for all of the services the villages provide with street, police, cemetery, water and sewer duties. The village amount is less than 3 percent of the entire sales tax that comes into the county. But the villages are doing far more than 3 percent of the work by local governments.

The new distribution for 2014, approved Monday by Legislature, cuts the villages down to $400,681. Albion assumes most of that loss with its share down from $180,457 to $176,423.

This formula makes no sense. The revenue share should be based solely on population because people spend money, generating sales tax. To tie it to assessed value isn’t fair, especially for the village of Albion which has so much exempt property with churches and county government buildings.

If the county is adamant it will use property values for the formula, the exempt properties should be assigned values that factor into the formula. The County Courthouse, for example, doesn’t give the village of Albion a boost in the formula. But if it’s value, let’s say $40 million, was factored in the equation, the village would do far better with the formula.

Add up all the churches and municipal buildings, and suddenly the villages are worth a lot more and should get more.

There is a bias against the villages by the County Legislature. The Legislature has historically been made up of legislators who previously served on Town Boards. Few village mayors or trustees have served on the Legislature.

The legislators bring an anti-village mentality that they pick up at the town level. For the first time in several years, there will be legislator who actually lives in a village on the Legislature.

Fred Miller, an Albion resident and former village trustee, said he wants to be a voice for the villages. He will be outnumbered 6 to 1 by other legislators with a “town” mentality. I’m not optimistic fairness will prevail.

If the county wanted to throw the villages and towns a tiny life-line, the Legislature wouldn’t cap their share. The county should establish a 90-10 revenue sharing split to start with, rather than the current 92 to 8 percent. That 2 percent difference would sprinkle another $300,000 to the towns and villages, with some of that going to the depleted village coffers.

If the county made that move it would raise the county tax rates by 18 cents. If the villages and towns used some of that small increase for public improvements, it could draw more dollars into the county, leading to more sales tax with the county getting 9 out of every 10 dollars. Ultimately, the county wouldn’t be losing sales tax money by giving the towns and villages a little more.

If the sales tax wasn’t capped, itwould provide incentive for the villages and towns to invest in themselves with downtown, parks and other community development improvement projects.

Right now, the villages and towns pay all the costs for these projects. If a canal project, for example, brings in tourists and spending in the community, that added sales tax all goes in the county coffers.

I propose the county “freeze” its share the next 13 years and give any of the increase to the towns and villages, with the share among them to be divvied based on population. After 13 years, the county could start to receive more, but only if the towns and villages are up to 25 percent of the total haul.

The villages are at a crisis point. Medina is seriously looking at dissolving and having the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway step in and assume the village functions.

If the villages don’t get more revenue, I think you’ll see some eliminate police and other services. The county, in that scenario, would be expected to add deputies to fill the gap.

All of this could be avoided if the county would amend its sales tax formula, and be a partner with the villages as they fight for survival.

Electricity fully restored in Orleans County

Photo by Tom Rivers – Orleans County is now free from the grip of the ice storm that took out power to half of the county at one point. This photo on Sunday shows the First Presbyterian Church of Albion in the background.

National Grid has restored power to every customer – 18,000-plus – in Orleans County, about two days after an ice storm snapped branches, taking down electrical wires all over the county.

The company is reporting that there are no customers without power in Orleans. At 2 p.m. on Sunday about half of the county lacked power, or 8,590 of National Grid’s 18,174 customers in Orleans.

The power company had 96 crews at its peak in Orleans, working to reattach wires and make other power restorations.

The ice storm knocked power out for about 70,000 customers in western, central and northern New York. As of 7:16 p.m., there were 1,354 customers without power and they are nearly all in the North Country with 840 in Lewis County and 480 in St. Lawrence County. National Grid expects everyone to be back on line by 11:30 p.m.

National Grid has fewer than 100 customers without power, about two days after an ice storm snapped big branches and felled numerous trees around Orleans County.

On Sunday afternoon there were 8,590 National Grid customers without power in Orleans. That represented 47.3 percent of National Grid’s customer base in the county.

As of 11:41 p.m. today, there were 92 customers without electricity. The company is working to have them restored today. Of those 92, 76 are in Shelby, with five or six customers without power in Yates, Albion and Clarendon.

Two counties in northern New York still have a lot of people without power. In Jefferson County, 3,846 customers don’t have electricity. National Grid reports it expects them to be back on line by 11:30 p.m. today. St. Lawrence County has 1,185 customers without power.

National Grid made significant progress restoring power in Orleans County today. As of 10:42 p.m., all but 356 customers were back on line.

The power company started the day with 3,275 customers without power. On Sunday there were more than 8,000 with no electricity, or about half of the county.

National Grid had 96 crews in the county today. The company is working to have power fully restored in Orleans by noon tomorrow, the day before Christmas.

Company reports 1,453 still without power in Orleans

Photos by Tom Rivers – A tree crushed this 1995 Cadillac Seville, owned by Shaun Cobb of Albion. The tree damaged two other cars when it fell on Brown Street near the Caroline Street intersection. Cobb has been working to remove the tree by himself.

It shouldn’t be too much longer. That was the message from Paul Wagner, Orleans County emergency management director.

He knows residents want their electricity back on. National Grid has reduced the number of customers without power from 3,275 this morning to 1,453 as of 5:38 p.m. Wagner expects many more will be back on-line before 10 p.m. when National Grid crews will call it a day.

The crews will be back to work in the morning and expect to have power restored to residents by noon.

“We’re nearing the end of the power outage routine in Orleans County,” Wagner told the County Legislature this afternoon.

National Grid has 96 crews working to restore power and reattach lines to houses, Wagner said.

He also noted the six fire companies from Wyoming County that volunteered to help with basement pumping and be on standby for other fire calls. They arrived at about 4 p.m. on Sunday and stayed past noon today, easing some of the burden for local firefighters.

The Wyoming departments include North Java, Harris Corners, Perry, North Java, Warsaw and Arcade. A crew from Chili in Monroe County also was on scene in eastern Orleans.

Wagner said he was grateful the storm did not cause any injuries or fatalities.

Orleans County was alive with the sound of chain saws today while workers and residents cut up some of the fallen branches and trees. Bob Dexter works on a limb behind his stepdaughters’ house on East Park Street.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Here is another photo from the ice storm on Sunday, showing the Orleans County Courthouse in the background.

More than 3,000 National Grid customers remain without electricity this morning, and the power company advised the lights may not be back on until noon on Christmas Eve.

The ice storm that broke branches and felled trees, resulting in downed power lines. National Grid has made progress since yesterday when 8,590 of 18,174 customers in Orleans County were without electricity.

There are still 3,152 without power, as of 6:43 a.m. today. That represents 17.3 percent of the company’s customer base in Orleans.

It could be worse. In St. Lawrence County in northern New York, 28.0 percent of National Grid customers, 15,442 out of 55,065, are without electricity.

The company made big strides in Genesee County yesterday. As of this morning, only 82 customers were without electricity just south of Orleans.

Photos by Tom Rivers

National Grid has many crews working in Orleans County, trying to restore electricity to residents after Sunday’s ice storm.

This crew is at work on East State Street in Albion. They are one of 20 crews that drove in from Worcester, Mass., to work in Orleans County.

As of 8:45 a.m. this morning, 3,275 National Grid customers were without electricity in Orleans County.

National Grid expects most of those without power will have it back on by tonight, but some people may have to wait until noon tomorrow, when the county should be fully back on line, said Steve Brady, National Grid spokesman.

National Grid has 2,300 field workers deployed today in western and northern New York, the area’s hardest hit by the ice storm.

The power company is using its own local crews, National Grid crews from other parts of upstate, Long Island and New England, as well as contractors and crews from neighboring utilities, Brady said.

They are backed up by several hundred support personnel doing everything from work planning to customer contact to organizing meals and lodging for out of town crews, he said.

The Village of Albion Department of Public Works marked off a downed wire on Herrick Street.

Photos by Tom Rivers – The crew from Strykersville includes, from left: Brian George, Eric Kirsch and Carol Shaw.

ALBION – Six crews from Wyoming County are heading home this afternoon after spending about 20 hours in Orleans County, pumping basements and responding to other fire calls.

The firefighters responded to a mutual aid call to fire companies in Orleans County which have been busy since an ice storm hit at about 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Many fire companies also responded to a house fire in Holley Saturday night on Orleans-Monroe Countyline Road.

“They have helped tremendously,” said Jeremy Graham, assistant fire chief for the Albion Fire Department. “They gave us peace of mind by being here and gave us a chance to get refreshed.”

A crew from Strykersville pumped 14 basements between 9:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m., and then since 7:30 a.m. today, working mostly around Albion.

Three firefighters from Strykersville responded to the mutual aid call for Orleans County.

“We were fortunate to have some time off from our jobs so we could come down,” said Eric Kirsch of Strykersville.

He got engaged on Saturday. His fiancee gave her blessing for him to help in Orleans for the day.

“She just wants me home for Christmas,” Kirsch said.

The team from the North Java Fire Company includes, from left: Kyle Meyer, Jeremy Boorman, Jim Tuttle and Evan Church.

Firefighters from five other Wyoming County fire departments – Harris Corners, Perry, North Java, Warsaw and Arcade – worked in Orleans, with different crews assigned to the eastern, central and western portions of the county.

The North Java crew stayed in the Albion fire hall and was on standby for any fire calls. The crew responded to an EMS call. Otherwise, they stayed up most of the night playing Uno and Rummy. Their presence allowed Albion firefighters to get a good night’s rest.

Jeremy Boorman, a North Java firefighter, said the Wyoming firefighters were eager to step forward and help while Orleans was plagued with power outages, flooded cellars and downed wires.

“We hope for the same if we ever need it,” he said about the out-of-county mutual aid. “We hope people will come and help us.”