Onondaga County receives latest sales-tax payment, still down $23 million for 2020 budget

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Onondaga County’s latest sales-tax payment, announced Thursday, totaled nearly $4.1 million, which reflects a $4.6 million decrease, year over year.

Onondaga County is now down almost $23 million in sales-tax revenue from what was budgeted for 2020, the office of Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said.

The payment is a cleanup payment for the quarter that covers March through May.

“As our economy continues to reopen in a safe and responsible way, we must not forget that for at least three months our economy was effectively shut down while we took on the additional costs of fighting the pandemic,” McMahon said. “All of that is compounded by the fact that important sales-tax drivers for our county, such as the New York State Fair, Syracuse Nationals, and the concert season at the St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater, have all been cancelled … The opportunity for realistic economic growth to take place by years’ end to cover our multi-million-dollar deficit is simply not [there]. We need action from our federal partners, and we need it quickly, if we are going to avoid draconian cuts to the very services our community needs now more than ever.”

The next sales-tax payment is expected the first week of August, “though subject to change,” the county said.

Previously, McMahon’s office on June 29 announced that it had received two sales-tax payments. The first payment covered the month of May and the quarter of March through May. The payment totaled nearly $17.3 million and reflected a $6.9 million increase year over year.

The second payment covered the month of June and totaled $11.2 million — a $3.1 million dollar decrease year over year.