GOV SIGNS LAW THAT WILL GENERATE ABOUT A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR TO UNINCORPORATED GREENBURGH... AND REVENUES TO VILLAGES THAT HAVE HOTELS WITHIN THEIR BORDERS WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET THE LAW ENACTED SINCE 2009 Big positive news to start the new year with. Last night Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation into law that will generate about a million dollars a year to unincorporated Greenburgh. This revenue will be used to keep taxes for unincorporated Greenburgh residents lower than they might have been. Earlier this year the New York State Assembly and New York State Senate approved legislation that will enable Greenburgh and villages within Greenburgh that have hotels located within their borders to impose a 3% hotel tax on guests. if the hotel is located within unincorporated Greenburgh all the revenue will benefit unincorporated Greenburgh. Revenues from the hotels located within villages go to the villages. Our State Legislators - Senator Andrea Cousins and Assemblyman Tom Abinanti worked extremely hard to help get the legislation approved and signed into law. We are very lucky to have as our representatives in Albany two highly effective and respected lawmakers who are able to get results for our communities. THANK YOU ANDREA AND TOM! We have been trying to get this legislation approved since at least 2009. Last year the Legislature approved the legislation but the Governor vetoed the legislation highlighting the fact that the hotel tax was only approved for cities like Yonkers, White Plains, New Rochelle and Peekskill---not towns. We did not give up and tried again, again, again and again. All the members of the Town Board --Francis Sheehan, Diana Juettner, Kevin Morgan and Ken Jones worked very hard reaching out to their contacts who could help get the legislation signed into law. Assemblyman Tom Abinanti was successful in persuading the powerful Speaker of the New York State Assembly, Carl Heastie, to make this a priority in discussions with the Governor. The Speaker's help is enormously appreciated. As part of our lobbying effort we did a study comparing Greenburgh with the counties that were allowed to impose a hotel tax. We showed that NYS allows counties to have a hotel tax. Our population exceeds more than 50% of the Counties allowed to impose a hotel tax. This was a great team effort. Members of the Town Board, our State Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins, Assemblyman Tom Abinanti, the Speaker of the Assembly Carl Heastie, Governor Andrew Cuomo, the Mayors of the villages. We all worked together and accomplished something major for the town--that will help the town maintain our Aaa bond rating and be financially in good shape. PAUL FEINER PS: We hope to continue our effective partnership with other levels of government and have plans for an ambitious legislative agenda in 2017. HAPPY NEW YEAR POPULATION COMPARISON OF TOWN OF GREENBURGH TO COUNTIES GRANTED HOTEL AND/OR MOTEL TAX ENABLING LEGISLATION ENABLING LEGISLATION COUNTY POPULATION 1 Schuyler County 18,343 COUNTIES WITH POPULATIONS LESS THAN TOWN OF GREENBURGH 2 Yates County 25,348 3 Lewis County 27,087 4 Schoharie County 32,749 5 Seneca County 35,251 6 Essex County 39,370 7 Wyoming County 42,155 8 New York Tax Law Section 1202-U*3Section 1202-U*** Orleans County 42,883 9 Allegany County 48,946 10 Cortland County 49,336 11 Montgomery County 50,219 12 Tioga County 51,125 13 Genesee County 60,079 14 Otsego County 62,259 15 Washington County 63,216 16 Livingston County 65,393 17 Warren County 65,707 18 Madison County 73,442 19 Sullivan County 77,547 20 Cayuga County 80,026 21 Cattaraugus County 80,317 22 Clinton County 82,128 23 Chemung County 88,830 TOWN OF GREENBURGH Enabling Legislation Requested 90,364 24 Steuben County 98,990 COUNTIES WITH POPULATIONS GREATERTHAN TOWN OF GREENBURGH 25 Tompkins County 101,564 26 Ontario County 107,931 27 St. Lawrence County 111,944 28 Jefferson County 116,229 29 Oswego County 122,109 30 Chautauqua County 134,905 31 Schenectady County 154,727 32 Rensselaer County 159,429 33 Ulster County 181,791 34 Broome County 200,600 35 Niagara County 216,469 36 Saratoga County 219,607 37 Oneida County 234,878 38 Rockland County 311,687 39 Orange County 372,813 40 Onondaga County 466,852 41 Westchester County 949,113 42 Nassau County 1,339,532 43 Suffolk County 1,493,350 Asterisks indicate there are multiple subsections with the same letter.
Very excited--and grateful. Thank you Governor Cuomo for helping our communities.
Greenburgh Town Supervisor