Chautauqua County Legislature voting meeting (March 26, 2025)
The Chautauqua County Legislature passed along party lines a resolution that requests to keep the county’s additional 1% sales tax.
The current sales tax in Chautauqua County is 8%, with the county required to make a request to New York State every two years for any additional percentage above 7%.
The resolution also keeps the distribution of that additional sales tax at 15% of the 1% to cities, towns, and villages and the other 85% of revenues to Chautauqua County government.
The resolution had been referred back to the Audit & Control Committee in February so that legislators could have more discussions with local municipalities about the current distribution model and if any changes were desired.
Jamestown Mayor Kim Ecklund and Dunkirk Common Council member at large Nick Wesier both submitted letters that were read out loud at the Legislature meeting asking the Legislature to consider adjusting percentage of revenues received by municipalities to help them with financial burdens.
Ultimately, Republican legislators voted to keep the system the same with the five Democrats voting no. The passing of the resolution made a resolution proposed by Jamestown Democratic Legislator Fred Larson to lower the county’s sales tax to 7.75%, while keeping the same 15% distribution of revenues to cities, towns and villages “out of order.”
The 85% of revenue from the additional 1% of sales tax will go toward paying the County’s expenses for Medicaid and other expenses required by law; paying for local road and bridge projects; for the purposes of capital projects and repaying any debts incurred for such capital projects that are not otherwise paid for by revenue received from the mortgage recording tax; and for deposit into a reserve fund for bonded indebtedness established pursuant to the general municipal law.
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