Referred to:  The Ways and Means Committee (Chairwoman Archer and Legislators Bartels, Gavaris, Haynes, Maio, Ronk, and Walter)

Legislators Eve Walter and Lynn Archer, and Legislator Delaune offer the following:

          WHEREAS, Ulster County and the City of Kingston will be in negotiations regarding an agreement pertaining to sales tax distribution to commence in 2021; and

WHEREAS, said contract typically remains in place for five years, with the last agreement being approved pursuant to Resolution No. 280 dated May 17, 2016; and

WHEREAS, this agreement has seen little change in decades despite several innovations implemented in other New York Counties that warrant exploration; and

WHEREAS, we are currently experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic forcing our County to be on the mandated New York PAUSE for several months resulting in considerable loss in revenue from sales tax as well as other revenue for a total impact that is current immeasurable, and as a result consideration of innovations in the distribution and utilization of sales tax revenues are inappropriate at this juncture; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, the Ulster County Legislature hereby encourages the County and the City of Kingston, at this time, to enter into only a one year contract agreement or one year extension of the current sales tax sharing distribution agreement, thus allowing time to understand and/or potentially recover from the economic implications of the pandemic and to identify possible innovative uses for this revenue,

and move its adoption.

ADOPTED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:

AYES:                       NOES:    

Passed Committee: Ways and Means on _______________.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

NONE