MONTICELLO – Sullivan County appears
to be in better financial shape than in recent years, but there are external
pressures on what the county can raise to pay for its operations.
County Manager Joshua Potosek told the legislature’s Management
and Budget Committee that because of several parts of the formula, the
official two percent state tax cap for local budgets is a lot less for
them.
“We’re looking at just a little bit over one percent for our
tax cap,” he said.
The good news is that sales tax revenue likely will be a lot higher for
this year than was budgeted.
Last year, the legislature voted to give itself some breathing room on
the tax cap. Legislator Gene Benson suggested doing the same this year.
“We vote to override, if we need to,” Benson said. “It
doesn’t necessarily mean that we will override but, we should have
that ability.”
Legislature Chairman Scott Samuelson agreed.
A two-thirds majority, or six of the nine legislators, would need to vote
the ability to override.
