NEW SCOTLAND — The town board was warned at its Oct. 11 meeting about a county-wide trend of decreasing sales-tax revenue.

Frank Commisso Jr., the director of municipal affairs for the Albany County Department of Audit and Control, told the board that Comptroller Michael Conner “has expressed a warning to local governments … throughout Albany County as they start their budget processes about sales-tax revenue, and some of the risks that we have here in Albany County as it relates to sales-tax revenues.”

Commisso said the county collects over $250 million in sales-tax revenue, which is then divided among the towns, villages, and cities, based on population.

“There are some warning signs that we do have significant risks that we are presented with … We think much of that is being driven by internet sales, and the growth of internet sales,” Commisso said.

Specific to Albany County, are challenges from the adjacent counties that now developing their own retail centers. “We have that in Rensselaer County, we see that certainly in Schenectady County, and Saratoga County, there is significant competition that is now in place with Albany County, as a retail center,” he said.  

That puts millions of dollars at risk for Albany County, and its cities, towns, and villages, he said.

Commisso said the good news is that municipalities have been cautious with their budgets and have not over-leveraged themselves by depending on sales-tax revenue to increase their budgets, as is the case with New Scotland.

Commisso pointed out that, in the next few years, one of the solutions the county will have to pursue is more shared services, to save money.

When Commisso finished his presentation, Supervisor Douglas LaGrange said that the town had lowered its expectation for sales-tax revenue next year, and told the meeting that the sales-tax revenue the town receives from the county is about $1.9 million.

Other business

In other business, the town board:

— Authorized LaGrange to sign an agreement with Albany County and Voorheesville for emergency-medical-technician services for the former volunteer Voorheesville ambulance service area. The total cost for service will be about $205,000. The new ambulance district is responsible for $134,000 of the contract, and $71,000 is a town-wide expense;

— Authorized LaGrange to sign an inter-municipal agreement with the Stormwater
Coalition of Albany County;

— Heard from Councilman Adam Greenberg about establishing a high-speed internet committee. Greenberg said the franchise agreement with Spectrum is coming to an end next year and he wants a group to work on the negotiation, and to figure out ways to establish better connectivity with rural parts of the town;

— Authorized a bond for $100,000 for the replacement of the roof on the highway department’s garage;

— Accepted an amendment to the town’s employee policy manual that allows for bereavement leave for permanent part-timers; and

— Accepted out-of-district membership requests of Ryan Primipato and Randy Loucks to join Onesquethaw Volunteer Fire Company, and approved a regular membership request from Cheyanne Jones.