Chautauqua County officials are exploring different options on how they can lower taxes on gasoline.

On Monday, the legislature’s Administrative Services Committee held a 45-minute discussion on the topic and then on Thursday, the legislature’s Audit and Control Committee held a 30-minute discussion on the topic.

Legislation will need to be approved by Wednesday in order for any gas tax breaks to go into effect by summer.

According to county Attorney Stephen Abdella, the state decided to suspend two of its taxes for seven months. The state also gave the option for counties to fix sales tax at 8 cents a gallon, 12 cents a gallon or 16 cents a gallon. The state did not give counties the option to remove sales tax entirely.

Abdella said provisions can be made so that if gasoline prices drop below a certain level, the sales tax can go back to a percentage instead of a flat rate.

Abdella also said any changes to the sales tax must be made 30 days before the beginning of a sales tax quarter, which in this case would be June 1. That means the county Legislature must make a change this month in order for the change to go into effect June 1. Otherwise, any changes would be delayed until Sept. 1.

During Thursday’s committee meeting, Abdella told members that the four Democratic members on the legislature have asked him to pre-file a resolution sponsored on their behalf to set sales tax at 12 cents a gallon. That resolution will be voted on by the full legislature on Wednesday.

County Finance Director Kitty Crow said if the legislature adopts the 12-cents-a-gallon tax rate, she believes it will not hurt the county’s budget.

“In my estimation, it would put us right at budget. We wouldn’t expect a surplus, and we wouldn’t expect a deficit,” she said.

She provided both committees an analysis of the impact of changing the gas tax. Even with a 12-cent-a-gallon tax rate, Crow noted there are a lot of variables, including if gas prices go up or down, if people’s driving habits change and how much more the county will need to spend if oil prices remain high.

“One could argue that if we made no change and ended up with surplus in motor fuel tax, that would offset cost increases in maintaining roads,” she said.

In Crow’s analysis, she predicts that if gasoline stays at $4.19 a gallon and no changes to the sales tax are made, the county will collect an additional $1.2 million in revenue, with $729,000 going to the county’s budget and $511,000 going to cities, towns and villages.

Legislator Terry Niebel said he wants to make sure the county doesn’t hurt its own departments by making changes to the fuel tax. “I’m all in favor of reducing gasoline tax, but I want to know exactly what affect this is going to have on … departments that use a lot of fuel,” he said, using the Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Public Facilities as examples.

Budget Director Kathleen Dennison said if gas prices remain as they are, she estimates the county DPF will have a budget shortfall of $300,000. She did not have figures available for the Sheriff’s Office and added that fuel costs for other departments is relatively low by comparison.

Legislator Dan Pavlock, R-Sinclairville, said the argument can be made for individuals to make changes in their own lives to save fuel. “I have to be accountable in some way and not depend on the government to save me money but myself, so there’s a fine line there,” he said.

Legislator Jay Gould, R-Ashville, said he is concerned that cutting sales tax could hurt local municipalities. “We could mess up the budget on many, many towns,” he said.

Crow, however, wasn’t as concerned. “If it were set at the 12 cent mark, they would expect to receive as much as they have been receiving,” she said, but acknowledged the individual municipalities’ costs are likely going up due to higher fuel prices.

She also said that gasoline tax makes up about 6% of the county’s total sales tax budget. “It’s not going to necessarily make or break our total sales tax budget,” Crow said.

While no Republicans officially said they’re backing the Democrats’ proposal of 12 cents a gallon, they did say they favor a Dec. 1 sunset clause, which would mean that, if passed next week, the sales tax would go back to the way it is now, effective that date.

Abdella noted any changes to the motor vehicle sales tax would apply to both gasoline and diesel fuel. It would not apply to aviation fuel.