By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Erie County Republican lawmakers say it's time to renegotiate the thirty-year old sales tax revenue sharing deal.
Legislative Minority Leader Barry Weinstein Monday called for a new distribution agreement that would give more to suburban communities. Weinstein will introduce a resolution at this Thursday's session asking that the legislature give its required one year notice to terminate the 1977 agreement.
The current formula gives a larger percentage of the revenues to the City of Buffalo than to surrounding towns and villages. Weinstein says the population shift makes the the old formula disproportionate and unfair.
"We're proposing a better system for distributing sales tax -- one person, one dollar as opposed to the skewed system we have now," Weinstein said.
But others say changing the formula would open a can of worms. Erie County Executive Joel Giambra says it's a divisive issue.
"We're going to drive wedges between the city and suburbs, which is something we shouldn't do any more in this community," Giambra said. "We are going to have a discussion on the sales tax. But it won't become divisive, pitting city against suburb because that's only going to make the situation worse."
Earlier this year, the Legislature approved an extension of the eighth penny sales tax that calls for an additional $12 million of revenue sharing. That sharing is subject to a new allocation agreement. And a task force is currently studying the matter. But Weinstein says now is the time to negotiate a completely new formula.