North country counties report stable sales tax incomes for 2020, despite significant statewide drop

“This report shows how deeply the COVID-19 pandemic cut into municipal finances,” Mr. DiNapoli said in a statement released alongside Tuesday’s report. “Local governments depend heavily on sales taxes as a major source of revenue, but as New Yorkers stayed home and bought less in their communities during the pandemic, it created shortfalls. New York’s localities need federal aid to help get through this crisis.”

According to the comptroller’s report, 27 out of New York’s 57 counties outside New York City reported lower sales tax collections in 2020 than they did in 2019.

In the north country, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties bucked the trend. Each reported relatively normal overall sales tax incomes for 2020, despite initially anticipating a steep decline.

According to Mr. DiNapoli’s report, Jefferson County collected about $82.4 million for sales tax, a 2.8%, or $2.2 million increase from 2019. Lewis County took in about $13.5 million, a 4.2%, a $500,000 increase, and St. Lawrence County collected about $64.6 million, a 4%, or $2.4 million increase from 2019.

Scott A. Gray, chairman of the Jefferson County Board of Legislators, said the county usually sees annual growth of about 2% or 3%, so this year’s increase is about average, which was a surprise for him.

“This was unexpected,” he said. “I would probably never have predicted positive growth for our sales tax this year.”

The county only reported one quarter with decreased sales tax revenue. When the most restrictive coronavirus restrictions were in place from April to June of last year, Jefferson County saw an 11% drop in sales tax collections when compared to the same period in 2019.

Lewis County saw a similar trend, with a 6.9% drop in sales tax income from April to June, and no other quarter with lower income than in 2019.

St. Lawrence County reported two quarters of negative growth, although both quarters saw relatively small drops. From April to June, the county took in 2.9% less from sales taxes than it had in 2019, and from October to December of last year, the county took in 0.9% less than it had the year before.

Mr. Gray said he believes there are many reasons why Jefferson County saw stable sales tax revenue, but it can in part be attributed to the county’s relatively low number of coronavirus infections during the summer.

“A lot of people were working remotely, so I think that brought people to their summer residences,” he said. “We were probably considered a safe haven for a lot of people, in terms of being as close to normalcy as you’re going to find during this pandemic.”

Mr. Gray said another reason for the stable income could also be that 2020 marked the first year New York state counties were able to collect sales tax for online sales made within their borders.

According to the comptroller’s report, Jefferson County could see about $1.85 million in sales tax generated just from online sales made from March to August of 2020, representing about 2% of all annual collections.

Ryan M. Piche, the Lewis County manager, said income from online sales was integral in protecting sales tax income for the county. He said the county’s 4.2% increase in overall sales tax collections is actually higher than their typical year-to-year increase.

“For rural places like Lewis County, our traditional sales tax numbers aren’t as dependent on malls, shopping centers and brick-and-mortar stores,” he said. “I think our brick-and-mortar places have certainly suffered, and it’s been a very tough year, but because we’re allowed to tax for the online component, that has more than made up for the reduction in brick-and-mortar sales.”

The comptroller’s report shows that Lewis County could bring in about $372,000 from online sales completed from March to August of 2020, which represents about 3% of annual sales tax collections.

In St. Lawrence County, the comptroller projects the county could bring in about $1.5 million, representing about 2% of all annual sales tax collections. County officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Mr. Piche said Lewis County only budgeted for about $11.8 million in sales tax revenue when laying out their 2020 budget, so while this year’s extra income is welcome, it isn’t integral to the county’s financial stability.

“We will have a budget surplus for 2020,” he said. “We always budget conservatively for sales tax. Budgeting in 2019, we couldn’t have foreseen the pandemic, but even if this were a normal year, we would have been far over budget. Conservative budgeting, combined with surprisingly positive sales tax figures, means we’re going into 2021 in fine shape.”

Mr. Gray said for Jefferson County, the unexpected boost in sales tax revenue is a welcome help, but does not make the county whole for what it has spent or lost out on during the pandemic.

The New York state government has cut its payments to municipalities as it faces a multi-billion-dollar deficit, and Mr. Gray said that continues to impact Jefferson County.

Jefferson County Treasurer Karen Christie said the county is currently missing about $1.7 million in state aid, and she forecasts they will only receive about $40 million in state aid out of an anticipated $47 million for 2020.

Besides that, Mr. Gray said the county continues to spend a significant amount of money to combat the coronavirus as the Jefferson County Public Health Service oversees at least some of the contact tracing, testing and vaccination efforts within the county.

“We are putting so much effort into fighting the virus, with the vaccine and everything around that,” he said. “It’s costing everyone a lot.”