County Reduces Gas Sales Tax Through 2027
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
By Holly Crocco
The Putnam County Legislature last week unanimously moved forward a resolution to reduce the county’s portion of sales tax collected on gas through the end of 2027, starting in June.
During the March 30 Budget & Finance Committee meeting, lawmakers approved the suspension of its 4 cents per gallon tax on anything over the $3 mark. This means that if gas is $4 per gallon, customers will only be taxed on $1 per gallon.
The state will still charge its 8 cents per gallon in gas tax – which, according to World Population Review, is one of the highest gas taxes in the country.
The initiative was proposed by Legislator Bill Gouldman, R-Putnam Valley.
“This resolution, if approved, relieves the burden of rising fuel costs by capping the amount of sales tax collected for gasoline,” he said. “Governments should not benefit from higher prices. We cannot control the global market, what happens nationally or in the state, but we can control what happens here in Putnam County.”
The county made a similar move in 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine and gas prices skyrocketed to $5 per gallon.
“It’s the same situation we’re going through right now,” Gouldman said of the recent U.S. and Israel attack on Iran, which has resulted in fuel prices creeping past $4 per gallon. “We must do what we can to make our community affordable.”
Legislator Erin Crowley, R-Mahopac, voiced full support for the measure. She said that, at a gas price of $3.50, that’s a 2-cent-per-gallon savings; at $4 it’s 4 cents, at $4.50 it’s 6 cents, and at $5, it’s 8 cents.
“I think this is wonderful,” she said. “I think it’s something that we need to do because people are really struggling right now.”
Legislator Jake D’Angelo, R-Carmel, pointed out that the county budgeted its gas tax revenue for the year using a $3-per-gallon average anyway, so not collecting the tax after that $3 mark won’t make a budget shortfall.
“There’s no doubt that there’s a fuel crisis right now,” he said. “This is saying we’re not going to take advantage of a rising cost. We’re going to collect what we budgeted for, and that’s it.”
Further, he said the resolution will also help out local municipalities because they are also consumers who need to gas up their highway department trucks and other vehicles.
Legislator Amy Sayegh, R-Mahopac Falls, noted that Putnam County is in the top five of all 62 counties in the state when it comes to how far residents commute for work.
“I think the average commute is 38 miles, so this is really impactful for our Putnam County taxpayers – for those who are just trying to get to work,” she said. “We’re giving them just a few cents; whether that’s small or not, it does add up.”
While the initial resolution proposed the tax suspension only through Dec. 31 of this year, Legislator Dan Birmingham, R-Southeast, proposed extending it through Dec. 31, 2027.
“We do have a robust fund balance,” he said. “So I think we can weather the storm for another year… I’d still not rather this county government profit off whatever calamity it is next year.”
County Finance Commissioner Bill Carlin advised against sunsetting the resolution so far out, noting that the county can always just extend the suspension at the end of this year.
“Because you don’t know what you’re going to be facing at that point and you can always, at any point, extend it out to the end of ’27, when you have a better idea of what you’re facing in 2027,” he said.
The Legislature voted to extend it anyway.
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