Sales tax revenue off to good start

Ulster County’s finances for 2017 are off to a good start, with sales tax revenue up roughly 2 percent in the first four months of the year over the same time last year.

“It’s a little more than we expected, so its good news,” said Ulster County Finance Commissioner Burt Gulnick.

“It’s still too early, we’re only four months into the year, but right now, it’s good news,” he said, adding that fourth quarter of the year, which includes the holiday shopping season is “the make or break quarter.”

That Ulster is seeing increased sales tax revenue jibes with what is happen throughout New York state, according to the state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

In a report issued this month, DiNapoli said that based on sales tax revenues returned to counties in the first six months of the year, every region experienced some growth in sales tax.

Gulnick said the state’s figures represent monies actually paid to the counties in 2017, but in-

cludes sales tax collected in November and December 2016.

Still, the report shows increased sales tax revenues paid out through June 2017 up in all but three counties.

Statewide, sales tax revenues paid to the counties between January and June were up about 3.3 percent over the same time in 2016, DiNapoli said in his report.

In the Mid-Hudson, which includes Ulster County, sales tax revenues were up about 2.5 percent overall.

The comptroller attributed the rise in sales tax revenue to economic factors including low unemployment and high consumer confidence as well as a sharp increase in revenue generated through the sale of motor fuels.

Fuel rose 19 percent in the first quarter of 2017 over the same time period in 2016 and another 13.5 percent in the second quarter, largely the reflection of an increase in gasoline prices, the report states.

While the increase in sales tax revenues is an improvement over recent years, it is a slower rate of growth than seen before the “Great Recession,” when compound annual growth rate for sales tax collections statewide was 5.3 percent, the report stated.

DiNapoli attributed the sluggish rebound could be the result of changing consumer shopping habits, including a greater reliance on internet purchases, many of which aren’t subject to sales tax. He also pointed in his report to the recent struggles malls have — partly due to the rise in internet shopping — noting that roughly 20 percent of all apparel sales and 17 percent of all footwear sales are made online.

Pointing to the Hudson Valley Mall, which is now seeking a multimillion dollar reduction in its property tax assessment after being purchased out of receivership for $9.4 million, a fraction of its $66 million assessed value, the report states “if malls begin to have more trouble renting space, the resulting losses could potentially further compromise local sales tax and even property tax revenue.”