MONTICELLO – The new Republican majority on the Sullivan County Legislature voted on Thursday to rescind a resolution that the former legislature approved to purchase land in Rock Hill for a county visitors’ center.
The sole vote against rescinding came from Democratic Minority Leader Ira Steingart. He urged the lawmakers to meet with the Sullivan County Visitors’ Association Board and leadership to learn what their needs are and specifically what they do for the county’s economy. “The bottom line is they bring over $500 million in revenue to Sullivan County employees; one of the largest sectors with over $30 million in sales tax,” he said. “Do we really want to cut them short, on top of the fact that the way it was going to be done paid through the room tax; the taxpayers are going to be better off because the county is going to own a building that was paid through room tax dollars.”
Legislature Chairman Robert Doherty explained the rescinded resolution was just to step away from the property purchase. “Just to be clear, this is just to rescind buying that property that is valued at $80,000 and is being sold for over $400,000,” he said.
The visitors’ association, in the meantime, rented larger space than its previous offices in Liberty to accommodate space needs.
