Town of Massena, County of St. Lawrence Sees Tax Revenues Increase | County of Saint-Laurent

MASSENA – Officials in the village of Massena continue to hear good news on the sales tax front.
Treasurer Kevin Felt said that for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year they received $ 587,471 from St. Lawrence County.
“This is an increase of $ 147,897, or 33.65% from the same period last year,” he said.
This brought their total tax revenue for fiscal year 2020-2021 to $ 2,154,469, an overall increase of $ 229,995, or 11.95% over the amount received last year.
“In terms of budget, we got $ 179,469 more than the budgeted amount of $ 1,975,000,” said Mr. Felt.
He had released figures for the third quarter in May, when the village recorded a 5.63% increase from the same period last year.
The sales tax received from St. Lawrence County for May Day was $ 479,983, he said. This compares to $ 454,408 for the same quarter last year.
Since the start of the year at this point in the fiscal year, the village had received $ 1,566,998. This was an increase of $ 82,098, or about 5.5% from the $ 1,484,900 they received in the same period the previous year.
County Treasurer Renee M. Cole said that, like the village of Massena, it has been a good year for St. Lawrence County. She said that due to the impact of COVID-19 in 2020, they are using 2019 as a gauge to determine how they are doing with sales tax.
“The second quarter of 2020 was right in the middle of the shutdown,” she said. “I guess we don’t know what to expect these days with COVID. Overall, if I took the first two quarters, we are just over 20% compared to 2019. It has been a good year.
She said stimulus funding to families may have played a role in maintaining their sales tax figures.
“I think the stimulus money has definitely had an impact. Everyone had a lot more money in their pockets. I think a lot of people buy bigger items or do homework, ”Ms. Cole said.
Inflation was also a factor, with consumers seeing prices soar in areas such as fuel costs.
“All of these things add up and help us,” she said.