Municipalities Obtain Needed Resources

New City) - Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has recently announced his support for an amendment to state legislation that would increase the local share of the County’s sales tax so that Rockland’s five towns would receive a proportionate share of the revenue based on the size of their respective police departments.

According to the amendment, which was proposed jointly by Senator Thomas P. Morahan and Assemblyman Kenneth P. Zebrowski, the one-sixteenth of one-percent proposed share of the County’s total sales tax revenue would be divided up between the five towns based on the number of officers in each of their police departments. The bill, which was passed by the Rockland County Legislature last month and was originally proposed as an equal share, would now give the Towns of Haverstraw, Stony Point, Ramapo, Orangetown and Clarkstown a revenue share relative to the number of policemen each town employs. The split revenue share could not be used for salaries and must go toward the purchase of equipment and supplies needed for law enforcement purposes.
“I am pleased that Assemblyman Zebrowski and I were able to successfully craft this amendment, which ensures an equitable distribution of public safety funding for each of Rockland’s five towns,” Morahan said. “In this way, we can ensure a distribution of sales tax revenue that is fair to all.”
The new bill must be passed into law by March 1, 2007, in order to go into effect for the current year. It was proposed by Vanderhoef and supported by the Rockland County Legislature in order to prevent a County property tax increase of 25-percent in 2007.

Vanderhoef applauded the amendment and praised Morahan and Zebrowski’s support of the bill.
“This is the most equitable way of splitting up the revenues between the towns and will give their police departments increased funding for vital crime fighting resources. I thank Senator Morahan and Assemblyman Zebrowski for their vision and initiative,” Vanderhoef said. “I am pleased that the members of the Rockland County Legislature supported this legislation and I thank them for their partnership in our continuing efforts to keep property taxes down for our residents.”
The towns would receive the following sales tax revenue shares in 2007:

Clarkstown: 172 police officers $692,820
Haverstraw: 69 police officers $277,933
Orangetown: 88 police officers $354,466
Ramapo: 111 police officers $447,110
Stony Point: 30 police officers $120,841
Villages with police departments would receive the following share:
Spring Valley 61 police officers $245,709
Piermont 8 police officers $32,224
South Nyack 6 police officers $24,168
Suffern 26 police officers $104,729
In 2008, the revenue share could double to one-eighth of one-percent of the County’s sales tax revenue and would be divided up between the towns as follows:
Clarkstown: $1,716,986 million
Haverstraw: $688,792
Orangetown: $878,459
Ramapo: $1,108,056
Stony Point: $299,475
Villages with police departments would receive the following share:
Spring Valley: $608,932
Piermont: $79,860
South Nyack: $59,895
Suffern: $259,545

The County has projected $152 million in total sales tax revenue for 2006 and has budgeted receipts of $168 million for 2007.

The County began sharing sales tax revenue with its municipalities in March 2002.