Legislators fall short to override veto
Five Putnam legislators who voted in favor of lowering the county’s sales-tax rate failed on Thursday (April 24) to override a veto by County Executive Kevin Byrne.
The Legislature has nine members, and a two-thirds majority is needed to override a veto. In this case, the deciding sixth vote would have had to come from one of four legislators, including Nancy Montgomery, whose district includes Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley, who joined Byrne in opposing the lower rate.
The sales tax in Putnam has been 4 percent since 2007, when the state enacted a law allowing the county to increase it from 3 percent.
Byrne vetoed a measure to lower the rate to 3.75 percent that passed in the Legislature on April 1 by a 5-4 vote. The total sales tax in Putnam is 8.375 percent, which includes 4 percent for the state and 0.375 percent for the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District.
A series of extensions have kept the 4 percent Putnam rate in place, but the most recent one expires Nov. 30, requiring state lawmakers to pass another bill before the end of the current session on June 12.
Citing the loss of an estimated $5 million in revenue from a lowered rate, Byrne found allies in a bipartisan coalition of town and village officials who endorsed his plan to keep the rate at 4 percent and distribute a portion of the proceeds to municipalities based on their populations.
That support was noted by state Sen. Pete Harckham in legislation he introduced on Tuesday (April 22) to extend the 4 percent rate to Nov. 30, 2027. Matt Slater submitted a companion bill in the Assembly on Thursday.
Proponents of the lower rate point to the size of Putnam’s reserves, which have swelled to $134 million, and the need to refund some of that surplus to taxpayers. Legislator Paul Jonke said the county is “holding an obscene amount of money in our fund balance.”
Kathleen Foley, Cold Spring’s mayor, asked legislators how they could accumulate reserves of that size and said that if the village is “sitting on” funds that are not being spent, “things aren’t being fixed.”
“What have you not done with how many tens or hundreds of millions of dollars you’re sitting on,” said Foley. “Spend the damn money; that’s what it’s for — it’s for making people’s lives better.”
