KINGSTON – The City of Kingston celebrated some promising financial news seeing their sales tax revenue stabilized for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wednesday evening, a monthly report from City Comptroller John Tuey showed sales tax revenue has been increasing following a drop of over 20 percent when the lockdown was first initiated in New York.
The last three sales tax checks show percentage decreases leveling, starting with an 18.4 percent drop, to a 16.6 percent drop, with their last check showing a 12 percent drop.
Common Council President Andrea Shaut said it is a promising development, but it’s maybe too early to get excited about it.
“It’s good news that things are looking better, but we’ll have to just wait and see what happens if the second wave of the pandemic comes and what’s going to happen if schools open. We’ll just have to wait and see, but I am happy that we did get some good news today,” said Shaut.
Tuey said the city departments have been collectively handling cuts very well and Kingston has also had its PPP contract secured for three years.
In terms of sales tax revenue, Tuey expects the city’s following checks to show a similar trend in stabilizing, although they are not yet sure what has caused it to do so.
