Gas tax caps save some cents

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

As of this Wednesday, June 1, gasoline consumers in New York State will pay 16 cents less per gallon because the state removed its 8¢ per gallon excise tax and 8¢ cents per gallon sales tax on gas and highway diesel fuel through the end of the year.

Patrick Suprenant, Stewart’s Shops Director of Fuel Operations, told The Chronicle, “That’s 16¢ in taxes not charged to us…We will pass that on to our consumers,” as required by law, he said.

In Saratoga County there will be additional savings because the county enacted a cap also from June 1-Dec. 31. The county will charge its 3% tax only on the first two dollars of the total gas cost, no matter how high the cost at the pump. If gasoline is priced at $4.00 a gallon, for instance, consumers would save an additional 6¢ a gallon.

Some Warren County supervisors are considering a tax cap also, but Mr. Suprenant noted they missed the state deadline to enact it by June 1.

Doing the math on Tuesday’s actual pump cost of $4.89 for a gallon for regular unleaded, Mr. Suprenant said, on June 1 the same gallon would cost $4.73 in Warren and Washington Counties — and about 7¢ less, or about $4.66, in Saratoga County.

Mr. Suprenant said Stewart’s own cost to buy fuel fluctuates “a lot, like the stock market.” He said he and two colleagues at the corporate level set the prices for each store, based on numerous factors.

Mr. Suprenant said, “We might have to adjust our prices” — down, he meant — even where tax caps weren’t enacted, for example, “if the cost for gas is lower just across the bridge…” like between South Glens Falls and Glens Falls.

Mr. Suprenant said Stewart’s has “a pretty big market share” of fuel gas sales in this region.

County gas tax caps: Saratoga ‘yes,’ Warren ‘maybe,’ Washington ‘not for now’

Chronicle Managing Editor Cathy DeDe writes: The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors enacted a gas sales tax cap for motor fuel prices above $2 a gallon, effective from June 1 through the end of the year. Consumers will save 3¢ a gallon on each dollar of gas cost above two dollars.

“We expect it will save our residents up to $4 million dollars at the pump during this very challenging time,” Todd Kusnierz, Moreau Town Supervisor and Chairman of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, said in a county press release.

Christine Rush, Saratoga County Director of Public Relations, told The Chronicle, “Add that to the State’s cap and motorists could see a savings of about 22-cents per gallon (at the $4 per gallon price tag).

“If gas prices continue to rise, motorists will see even bigger tax savings.”

In Warren County, Queensbury At-Large Supervisor Doug Beaty urged a gas tax cap at last Friday’s Board meeting.

Warren County missed the state deadline to enact a gas tax cap beginning on June 1; they’ll target the next available start date of September 1. The cap would run through the end of 2022.

Mr. Beaty says, “I think it’s gonna happen. The county had a $4.8 million surplus for the first four months of this year. We are awash in money.”

He said he was joined in supporting the cap by Rachel Seeber and Brad Magowan of Queensbury; Dan Bruno and Jack Diamond and Claudia Braymer of Glens Falls; and Andrea Hogan of Johnsburg — a group that has over the last two years often voted together on county matters.

Mr. Beaty said they are still working on the wording of the resolution that he expects to bring to the Board “directly from the floor,” rather than through committee as is typically the route for resolutions.

He said he hasn’t yet communicated with Warren County Board of Supervisors Chairman Kevin Geraghty about the plan, “but I will send an email to everyone.”

Mr. Geraghty, of Warrensburg, told The Chronicle on Sunday, “I thought Doug did a good job explaining it. I could get behind a gas tax cap but I want more information. The devil is in the details….It’s a feel good action, if the situation is right.”

Mr. Geraghty said he is mindful that the county’s financial situation can change, noting that in 2008, “We had to borrow $6 million a month just to meet payroll.”

Mr. Beaty said, “If passed, we will pass along a savings of about 9 cents off a gallon, at 5 bucks a gallon. Add our 9¢ with the 16¢ New York State cap and that’s 25¢ per gallon. It’s something.”

He said, “People need to know we are trying. Even if it goes to $6 a gallon by the end of August, like they are saying, they will only be charged on $2 a gallon.”

Mr. Beaty said the county has more than 63,000 registered vehicles, “with only 65,000 people.”

Ms. Braymer noted that holding off on the cap until September means the county will continue collecting the full tax “during the summer tourist season.”

Don Lehman, Warren County Public Information Director, tells The Chronicle, “The sales tax rate in Warren County is 7% — 4% of that is the state’s, 3% Warren County’s.”

He added, “As an aside, that 3 percent county share is tied for the lowest in the state, along with Washington and Saratoga Counties. So our residents and visitors are already paying less in sales tax on fuel sales than in all but two other counties in New York under normal circumstances.”

He said County Treasurer Mike Swan said sales tax revenue for 2022 “so far is up 19%, or about $4 million over last year.”

Mr. Swan estimates, “If a gas sales tax cap was put in place for September 1, it would have an impact of about $1 million less in sales tax.”

In Washington County, Sam Hall, the Fort Ann Supervisor who chairs the County Board, tells The Chronicle they considered it when New York State offered counties the possibility to enact a gas tax cap in April, “but nobody jumped up from the Board at that point in time.”

At last Friday’s board meeting, Mr. Hall said, “no one surfaced it, although that may change since there have been articles about it now. We will see.”

Mr. Hall said projected savings to consumers are relatively small.

“Are we giving people false hope of some kind?” asks Mr. Hall. “That was some of the conversation we had. Of course, that’s a question of perspective, is it a significant amount?”

As for possibly losing gasoline sales to other counties that do enact a gas tax cap, Mr. Hall said, “Unless you fill the tank, which many people cannot afford to do anyway, it would cost more in gas to run back and forth to another county than to just buy your gas locally.”

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