Budget & Taxes

Herkimer County in New York can now impose a 5% tax on short-term hotel and motel stays. This applies to most lodging businesses (including motels, bed-and-breakfasts, and similar facilities), but excludes government properties, non-profit organizations, and guests staying 90+ consecutive days. Hotels and motels would collect the tax from guests and remit it to the county, with all revenue funding the county's general fund for any lawful purpose. The law outlines collection procedures, refund processes, and specific exemptions to prevent double taxation.

This bill (S 8938) amends New York State law to include Sullivan County within the definition of a "designated community" for community preservation funds. It updates two sections of state law (General Municipal Law §6-s and Tax Law §1560) to explicitly list Sullivan County alongside Putnam, Ulster, and Westchester as qualifying counties. This change directly affects Sullivan County municipalities, allowing them to access community preservation funds previously available only to the other three Hudson Valley counties. The bill makes a technical definitional update with no new funding mechanisms or eligibility criteria beyond expanding the geographic scope.

Extends the effectiveness of the authority of the town of Red Hook to impose real estate transfer taxes and to deposit revenue from such taxes into a community preservation fund.

This bill grants Cortland County the exclusive authority to collect an additional one percent sales tax without it being overridden by state preemption laws. The legislation amends the state tax code to ensure this specific local tax rate is calculated separately from the maximum allowable tax rate set by the state. By explicitly stating that the tax is not subject to preemption, the measure protects Cortland's ability to raise revenue independently from other local governments. This change directly affects businesses and consumers in Cortland County by allowing the county to maintain its own tax rate even if the state adjusts broader tax policies.

This bill authorizes the town of Gardiner (in Ulster County) to impose a tax of up to 5% on hotel and motel room rentals for temporary stays (excluding guests staying 90+ consecutive days). It applies to all transient guests at hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts, and tourist facilities within Gardiner, but exempts government entities, nonprofit organizations, and permanent residents. The tax must be collected by the town's fiscal officer and deposited into Gardiner's general fund to support municipal services and infrastructure. The law includes specific collection procedures and a 2-year expiration date.

Enacts into law major components of legislation necessary to implement the state education, labor, housing and family assistance budget for the 2026-2027 state fiscal year; relates to contracts for excellence, foundation aid, the homeless and foster count, renewable energy projects, zero-emissions school buses and to apportioning aid for universal prekindergarten; relates to reimbursement for the 2026-2027 school year and the maximum contract hours, withholding a portion of employment preparation education aid, and the effectiveness thereof; relates to the use of apportionments for the EXCEL program and the effectiveness thereof; relates to maximum class sizes for special classes for certain students with disabilities; provides for special apportionment for salary expenses; provides for special apportionment for public pension accruals; amends provisions relating to the apportionment amount for the Roosevelt union free school district; provides for set-asides from the state funds which certain districts are receiving from the total foundation aid; provides for support of public libraries; repeals certain provisions relating to the statewide universal full-day prekindergarten program (Part A); relates to evidence-based instructional practices in the subject of mathematics for students in kindergarten through grade five (Part B); relates to the eligibility of students enrolled in an approved program leading to a degree in a high demand field for the New York opportunity promise scholarship (Part C); allows for the chancellor of SUNY and CUNY to impose differential tuition rates on non-resident undergraduate and graduate students until the 2028-2029 academic year (Part E); relates to early childhood educator eligibility for the masters-in-education teacher incentive scholarship program (Part F); changes the name of the "New York state musical instrument revolving fund" to the "New York state music grant fund"; includes musical education in school districts and boards of cooperative educational services within not-for-profit musical entities incorporated in the state and organized for the purpose of the presentation of performing arts for the benefit of the public (Part G); extends provisions of law relating to restructuring financing for residential school placements (Part K); increases the standards of monthly need for aged, blind and disabled persons living in the community (Part L); utilizes reserves in the mortgage insurance fund for the neighborhood preservation program, the rural preservation program, the rural rental assistance program, and the New York state supportive housing program, the solutions to end homelessness program or the operational support for AIDS housing program (Part M); increases the number of land banks which can simultaneously exist in the state of New York from 35 to 45 (Part N); authorizes a tax abatement for alterations and improvements to multiple dwellings for purposes of preserving habitability in affordable housing (Part O); relates to establishing the crime of aggravated harassment of a rent regulated tenant (Part P); renumbers the disparate impact standard for housing and employment in the human rights law (Part Q); defines eligible multiple dwelling under the affordable New York housing program; includes a multiple dwelling that is located on a parcel of land which was part of a tract of land for which a special permit for a large scale general development was approved via the uniform land use review procedure on or before June 15, 2022, and such tract contains a multiple dwelling for which the commencement date is after December 31, 2015 and on or before June 15, 2022 and complies with certain affordability options (Part R).

Enacts into law major components of legislation which are necessary to implement the state fiscal plan for the 2026-2027 state fiscal year; sets forth a child and dependent care credit for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026 (Part A); excludes up to twenty-five thousand dollars in qualified tips earned from New York adjusted gross income (Part B); retains the deductibility of certain charitable contributions (Part C); standardizes the definition of farmer for various tax credits (Part D); extends the current corporate tax rates (Part E); provides for exemptions from calculation of income in certain cases, provided such exemptions were not already applied in the calculation of income under federal provisions (Part F); relates to the treatment of certain deductions allowable under the internal revenue code in calculating New York city taxable income for corporations for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024 (Part G); extends provisions of law relating to the commercial security tax credit from January 1, 2026 until January 1, 2029 (Part I); enhances the New York city musical and theatrical production credit (Part J); defines the term "alternative nicotine product"; makes provisions relating to the possession for sale, sale, and taxation of alternative nicotine products (Part K); extends the real estate transfer tax rate reduction for conveyances of real property to existing real estate investment funds (Part M); directs the commissioner of taxation and finance to establish a sales and use tax reregistration program and a sales and use tax penalty and interest discount program (Part N); extends the sales tax exemption for vending machines (Part P); extends the residential energy storage sales tax exemption for two years (Part Q); relates to the petroleum business tax filing deadline for commercial vessel operators (Part R); extends the alternative fuels tax exemptions (Part S); makes technical corrections to the STAR exemption and STAR credit programs (Part T); extends the assessment ceiling for local public utility mass real property to January 1, 2031; clarifies the powers of the state board of real property tax services (Part U); relates to rent exemptions and rent increase exemptions and property tax exemptions for certain persons; extends provisions of law relating thereto (Subpart A); provides notice to tenants regarding rent increase exemptions (Subpart B)(Part V); conforms pari-mutuel tax provisions; makes technical corrections (Part W); extends the utilization of funds in off-track betting corporations' capital acquisition funds (Part X); extends certain provisions of law relating to licenses for simulcast facilities, sums relating to track simulcast, simulcast of out-of-state thoroughbred races, simulcasting of races run by out-of-state harness tracks, distributions of wagers, and the imposition of certain taxes related thereto (Part Y); extends certain seasonal employee licensing requirements for additional race dates at Saratoga Racetrack for the year 2026 (Part Z); excludes certain distributions on federal elections for the purposes of calculating federal adjusted gross income (Part AA); relates to tax credits for donations to food pantries made by farmers (Part BB); relates to the sales tax exemption for meal donations; authorizes students to donate unused meal funds, meals or meal points to other students enrolled in such school, college or university who are facing food insecurity; extends the authorization of such sales tax exemption (Part CC); establishes additional qualifications for the board members of regional off-track betting corporations (Part DD); relates to the real property tax exemption for disabled veterans (Part EE); establishes a protecting our wallets energy rebate (POWER) credit (Part FF); relates to standardbred total carbon dioxide (TCO2) on-track drug testing (Part GG); authorizes a city having a population of one million or more to impose a surcharge on property that does not serve as a primary residence (Part HH); authorizes additional vendor fees to vendor tracks and video lottery gaming facilities; directs the gaming commission to conduct a study on video lottery terminal vendor fees and commercial casino tax rates (Part II); extends the duration of certain brownfield redevelopment and remediation tax credits with respect to certain sites (Part JJ).

Permits local governments to extend the existing clergy residential property tax exemption to include clergy residing in co-ops; clarifies that the clergy property tax exemption shall not affect eligibility for certain other tax abatements.

Bill A 8013 authorizes the Nassau County assessor to accept a late application for a real property tax exemption from Winners Chapel International New York. This applies to their property at 306 Fulton Ave. for the 2022, 2023, and 2024 tax assessment rolls. If the application is accepted and approved by the assessor and the Nassau County legislature, the organization could receive the exemption as if they had applied on time. The bill also permits the refund of any taxes already paid and the cancellation of outstanding taxes, fines, or penalties for those years.

Establishes the sector partnership enhancement and reinforcement program to assist in the identification of target industry clusters and employers for creation of new local sector partnerships and to provide grants to emerging and existing local sector partnerships and to community colleges seeking to establish local sector partnerships for recruitment activities; makes an appropriation therefor.