BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

St. Lawrence County legislators will share additional sales tax revenue with the city of Ogdensburg and support home rule legislation that could do the same.

The resolution passed unanimously at a Finance Committee meeting Jan. 31, but not without controversy.

If approved by the full board of legislators, the state would keep half of the 8 percent of sales tax generated in Ogdensburg while the county and the city would split the remaining 4 percent.

As it stands now, the City will preempt the county on sales tax collection, which allows the city to keep only half of 3 percent sales tax generated within the city limits.

The city had sought to collect the entire remaining 1 percent local share, which is currently collected and kept by the county. But the city was unsuccessful in attempts to secure home rule legislation at the state level to allow that.

The resolution proposed by the county would allow the city to collect 50 percent of that additional one percent.

Sales tax sharing has caused major tension between city officials and county legislators over the last several years.

Monday’s vote followed a lengthy debate in which Legislator David Forsythe, R-Lisbon, urged his fellow legislators to amend the resolution to remove language aimed at encouraging the city to spend the additional revenues to support police and fire service.

Forsythe said the resolution appeared orchestrated and that the county has no business telling the city how it should spend money.

He said the resolution attempted to micromanage the city and that language related to how the funds should be spent only served to muddy the waters.

Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Acres, R-Madrid, disagreed. He pointed out that city officials have cited specifically St. Lawrence County’s cuts to sales tax as a reason for downsizing the police and fire departments.

Acres said that City Manager Stephen Jellie has repeatedly called him and fellow legislator Joe Lightfoot out publicly, but described that as “water off a duck.”

He said it’s different however when the city manager accuses the county for cuts to the public safety sector, which he says is important.

Indeed the city has made deep cuts to its police and fire services in the wake of the county’s proposed changes to sales tax distribution.

Most recently the city moved to three-person minimum staffing in the fire department. The contract between the city and union requires a five-person minimum. Currently that issue is being fought in court.

Acres said he wouldn't send just three firefighters to a grassfire, let alone a structure fire.

Forsythe’s attempt to amend the resolution had support from some legislators including Jim Reagen, Larry Denesha and Harry Smithers, but failed in a 9-5 vote.

Legislator Joseph Lightfoot did succeed in amending the resolution based on a request received by City Councilor John Rishe.

Rishe asked the county to support home rule legislation, rather than simply granting the additional sales tax revenue to the city.

This is likely to ensure that the city will be able to rely on the funding in the long-term. The resolution as it stood before, allowed the county to change the formula in the future based on a variety of factors.

The resolution was announced last week and has drawn major criticism from Jellie who says Ogdensburg will no longer sit back and take “crumbs” from the county and state. He was critical of state representatives as well as county officials.