BY CRAIG FREILICH and JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM -- The village Board of Trustees has joined the City of Ogdensburg in opposing any revision to the existing formula for sales tax revenue distribution to the county, the city, and towns and villages.

The village resolution notes that a 10-year agreement between the county and Ogdensburg is about to be renegotiated and that "a county committee has been appointed to study and re-negotiate the existing sales tax distribution formula with the City of Ogdensburg in closed-door sessions..." based on the belief that the county is seeking more funds to cover increased Medicaid costs which "may result in the county benefiting from additional sales tax revenues and the local governments, including the City, receiving decreased revenues."

The resolution approved by trustees Monday declares they oppose "change to the current negotiated sales tax formula between the City of Ogdensburg and St. Lawrence County..." because they believe... "Any change will devastate local municipal budgets, resulting in significant local tax increases and possible personnel layoffs."

Just a week earlier, Ogdensburg City Council passed a resolution opposing any change to the distribution formula, which they say could be devastating to the city.

With the state facing a massive budget deficit, county legislators fear state lawmakers are looking to balance the budget on the backs of local government through unfunded mandates to the counties.

To address the issue St. Lawrence County could take a bigger share of the sales tax to the detriment of municipalities in the county. That could be devastating to Ogdensburg, which is nearing its constitutional tax limit, and to Potsdam, which has been warned by the state Comptroller's Office that it too is closing in on its limit.

Under the current arrangement, Ogdensburg has the option of negotiating a share of sales tax from the county's take or keeping the sales tax generated within the city.

Villages and towns have no such arrangement and are bound to accept whatever slice of the pie the county wishes to pass along.

In turn, municipalities would face an unexpected dip in their revenues from the sales tax money, which could force them to raise taxes or make cuts in their programs and worker layoffs.

St. Lawrence County charges an 8% tax on sales in the county. Half of that is reserved by the state, and the remaining 4% is divided up by the county and all its municipalities through a complex formula.