Last weekend’s papers had the County Legislature’s Republican majority leader, Jamie Gustafson, critical of the three provisions of the “Affordability Act of 2026” introduced at the January County Legislature meeting by me as the assistant minority leader and Bob Banksoski, the minority leader.

Our legislation would first make more senior citizen homeowners eligible for a partial property tax exemption, second, reduce the County’s property tax by $2,000,000 for 2027 and, third, support a County sales tax reduction from 8% to 7 3/4%, with more of the sales tax revenue going to towns, villages and cities. The failure by the legislature majority at the January legislature meeting to vote to raise the income limit from $30,000 to $38,000 for the Senior Citizen partial property tax exemption is hypocritical. At the February 2024 legislature meeting, both Republican Legislature leaders Jamie Gustafson, R-Lakewood, and Lisa Vanstrom, R-Falconer, voted to raise the income limit for the senior citizen partial property tax exemption to $58,400. At the next meeting, March 2024, legislators Gustafson and Vanstrom said they had made a mistake. Chautauqua County under New York Law could only go up to a $50,000 income limit for senior citizen homeowners. Legislator Vanstrom had supported the mistaken $58,400 figure after “review” in two of their legislature committees. The majority then voted to lower the $58,400 income limit they had voted for the previous month to only $30,000. The Democratic members of the legislature offered an amended amount of $37,650, which our County Office for the Aging said was the income limit for a number of programs for our senior citizens. Legislators Gustafson and Vanstrom voted “no” leading all of the Republican Legislators to vote “no.”

The second plank of the “Affordability Act of 2026” is to use just $2,000,000 of the county’s fund balance of at least $35,000,000, to lower county property taxes next year, 2027. The minority in the legislature proposed this $2,000,000 tax relief in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Legislator Gustafson and the majority party voted “no” to this tax relief for all three years. They tabled the “Affordability Act of 2026” at last month’s legislature meeting simply because they oppose tax relief this year as well.

Why do we support this $2,000,000 real property tax relief? First, the majority party in the Legislature has raised your county property taxes annually by about $2,000,000 for some time now. We say taxpayers need relief and that the county can responsibly cut the real property tax by $2,000,000 in 2027, making it more affordable for our residents to keep living here. This $2,000,000 tax cut is fiscally responsible. First, the county’s unappropriated fund balance has been steady around $35,000,000 for years. The county’s own written fiscal policy has long supported a $16,000,000 unappropriated fund balance as acceptable (5% of the over $300,000,000 county budget). A second largely unknown fiscal factor that justifies the $2,000,000 tax cut is that the county’s share of Medicaid now is about $1,000,000 a year less than it was 20 years ago because New York state capped the share of Medicaid paid by counties about 20 years ago. Another important reason the county can afford property tax relief now is the sale of the county nursing home in 2014. County leaders said the Chautauqua County Home was losing the county approximately $3,000,000 a year. Based on those figures the county government has saved at least $36,000,000 so far by getting out of the nursing home business. That savings will continue for years to come.

The third plank of the “Affordability Act of 2026” is reducing the burden of the county sales tax from 8% to 7.75% and sharing more of the tax revenue with the towns, villages and cities. An increase in sales revenue could translate to a reduction in the city property taxes. For about 40 years, starting in 1968, the County made do with a 7% sales tax. In order for the county to have a sales tax above 7%, it must get state Legislature approval every two years. A few years ago, the county made do with a 7.75% sales tax and briefly a 7.5% sales tax, while sharing more of it with the towns, villages and cities than the county now does. The county’s sales tax receipts have been increasing above the rate of inflation. Reducing the county sales tax to 7.75¾% means, for example, a county resident buying the average new vehicle will save $100. Chautauqua County would also be more competitive with Pennsylvania retailers, where the sales tax is lower.

The Affordability Act of 2026 is not about partisanship. It is about recognizing that many residents — seniors, working families, and small business owners — are feeling economic strain. We can maintain strong County services while taking thoughtful steps to reduce the financial pressure on our residents. I remain hopeful that legislators from both sides of the aisle will support these practical measures so that, together, we can make Chautauqua County a more affordable place to live.

Legislator Tom Nelson, D-Jamestown, is the Chautauqua County Legislature’s assistant minority leader.