MONTICELLO, NY — The meeting brought together members of the current and future Sullivan County Legislature, as well as officials from many of the 15 towns and five villages in the county. They came in to hear the recommendations from a committee that had been working on a proposal to allow the sharing of sales tax revenue among the county and other municipalities.

As of now, in Sullivan County sales tax revenue goes to the state and the county, with no sales tax revenue going to the towns and villages. This is not the case with the vast majority of the 63 counties in the state where towns and villages get a share of the county’s revenue.

With the coming of a casino to the Town of Thompson, officials from several towns approached county officials about sharing the anticipated sales tax windfall, and at the meeting at the government center on December 8, the committee revealed its recommendation.

In 2015, the amount of sales tax is anticipated to be in the area of $36 million. The recommendations from the committee, which was made up of representatives from the county and the towns, set a floor of $40.5 million, with the county keeping all of the revenue to that point. Any revenue in excess of that would be split, with 60% going to the county, and 40% going to the towns and villages, beginning perhaps in 2018, but not before.

Scott Samuelson, chair of the county legislature and a member of the committee, explained that the committee did not create any method or mechanism for dividing the sales tax revenue among the towns and villages, and that would be up to those municipalities to create.

Samuelson said that after the members of the Sullivan County Supervisors Association (SCSA) create a method of sharing the revenues, the matter would go before members of the county legislature, which will have six new members in January. He said the matter would not be addressed by the current legislature before the end of the year.

After that, Samuelson said, the initiative will either have to be approved by voter referendum or by the state legislature.

Dan Sturm, who was on the committee and is supervisor of the Town of Bethel and chair of SCSA, said the benefit to the town could be significant, and that for every $1 million in sales tax revenue beyond the $40.5 million base, the Town of Bethel would receive about $70,000.

Sturm said that he believes the supervisors of the 15 towns in the county are all on board with the proposal, which he called historic.