Essex County is returning $2.78 million in surplus sales tax to 18 towns, including Lake Placid and North Elba, for capital projects, not tax relief.
Essex County is moving to send $2,775,025 in surplus sales tax back to its 18 towns, including North Elba, Keene, St. Armand, Wilmington and Jay. The resolution requires towns to put the money into a capital improvement reserve fund, and county officials say it should not be used to lower property taxes.
Supervisors advanced the one-time distribution at the Finance Committee on Aug. 17, and again at the Ways and Means Committee on Aug. 31, according to the county's posted minutes of both meetings.
County Manager Mike Mascarenas told the Finance Committee that the county had closed its books for 2025, and that sales tax was so strong last year the county "brought in about $4 million dollars more than we had anticipated."
He called the distribution "basically a return to the tax payers." Each town's share is based on equalized assessed value, the same basis on which county property taxes are collected. The chart listing each town's share was not included in the posted minutes.
The resolution deposits the rest of the surplus in the county's Building Capital Reserve for future radio and public safety building projects. Mascarenas told the Finance Committee that portion was $7.224 million, split between buildings and radio communications. He said the county's buildings account holds about $3.5 million and will be exhausted next year by an HVAC project at the jail. He also said the reserve money would let the county avoid borrowing for those projects.
Mascarenas said his main concern was towns using the payment to "buy down the levy," the amount a town raises through property taxes.
"It is a one-time thing and utilizing it to buy down the levy will create a hole for you in future years," he told the Finance Committee.
He said towns could otherwise choose their own projects. Examples he named included sidewalks, bridges, water and sewer infrastructure, Wi-Fi, and local matching money for grants. At the Aug. 31 meeting, St. Armand Supervisor Davina Thurston asked whether her town could use its share as the match for a disinfection mandate. "Yes, I think that's the point," Mascarenas replied.
Supervisors debated the conditions. Supervisor Matt Stanley said on Aug. 17 that he wanted to play devil's advocate, and asked whether the county should be "telling the towns what they should do with sales tax money." Supervisor Ken Hughes argued for the opposite: he said the resolution should state plainly that towns may not use the money to reduce their levy, and that the county should verify how each town uses it. Mascarenas said he intends to have towns report their spending the same way they already report occupancy tax spending.
At the same Aug. 31 meeting, the Ways and Means Committee took up a resolution from the Human Services Committee calling for a two-year delay of the federal SNAP administrative and benefit cost shifts enacted under H.R. 1. The resolution also calls on New York State to hold counties harmless if the federal government does not act. The minutes list Thurston as its sponsor, with the notation "unanimous."
Mascarenas called the change "a cost shift." He said the federal government "is going to go from paying 50% to paying 25%," with the difference pushed to the state and then to counties, where he said it would "end up on property" taxes.
Supervisor Steve McNally said Hamilton County, with about 5,000 people, would see roughly $60,000 a year in added costs. He said the average county statewide would pick up another $500,000 to $600,000 a year.
The committee authorized the county manager and county attorney to negotiate a proposed five-year contract with ROOST, with the results to come back to the board for approval. An earlier version of the resolution would have approved a five-year ROOST agreement outright, to provide tourism marketing for the 18 towns paid for with occupancy tax revenue. That version was tabled and then withdrawn after an executive session. County Attorney Dan Manning described that session as covering legal advice on occupancy tax and the contract.
The committee's Aug. 31 resolutions also included a permit for the 2026 Lake Placid Classic half marathon, 10K and 5K to use county roads on Saturday, Oct. 10. They also included a contract of up to $59,373 with Plugin Stations Online LLC for electric vehicle charging equipment, and an $8,500 budget transfer to outfit two new Sheriff's Office vehicles.
Committee resolutions go to the full Board of Supervisors for final adoption. As of Sunday, Town Square had not found posted minutes of a full-board vote on these items.
Source: Essex County Board of Supervisors minutes of the Finance/Tax Reduction/Mandate Relief Committee, Aug. 17, 2026, and the Ways and Means Committee, Aug. 31, 2026.