By AMANDA HOFFMANN
The reason for the scramble: to beat a 2.5 percent tax on home heating that begins June 1.
And residents won't see a break during the summer, when they switch from heat to air conditioning, because the residential energy tax, which was passed by the County legislature Feb. 23, will also apply to electric bills.
The tax, which the county contends will bring in $18.6 million in the second half of 2009, mirrors one already in place in Suffolk County. New York City residents pay a similar tax, at a rate of more than 4 percent. "It's an extension of sales tax to residential energy," said Thomas Stokes, the deputy county executive for budget and finance, explaining that the tax will not apply to schools, hospitals or businesses. "Due to economic conditions, it's something we have to pursue."
Stokes said the tax would amount to about $82 a year for the average homeowner -- about $41 in 2009. It is designed to help close a $130 million county budget gap driven by a $100 million shortfall on sales tax revenue.
But the tax isn't set in stone. Stokes said a plan laid out by County Executive Thomas Suozzi would repeal the tax -- and a recent $12 million cut to youth and senior services -- if the state Legislature agrees to allow the county to implement a tax surcharge on traffic tickets, stoplight camera to catch more drivers who run red lights and a tax on tobacco, which together would add more than $30 million to county coffers this year.
"If all this happens, the county would consider dropping the cuts to the youth program and senior programs and not having the energy tax, the way the county executive laid out the plan," said Stokes. However, he added, that is contingent on the state acting quickly, so the county could begin collecting those taxes soon. A drawn-out process in the state Legislature would mean less revenue for the county and an increased likelihood that the energy tax would take effect, along with the cuts in youth and senior programs.
The energy tax is a burden that is not likely to help the economy recover from its downturn, said Louis Prochilo, president of Prochilo Fuel Inc. in Oceanside. "People are struggling to pay bills as it is, and our leaders think the answer is to add money to the heating bill," he said. "They pluck us like chickens. "It's not like they're taxing you going to a ball game or a party -- [energy is] an absolute necessity."
Bill Petrillo, manager of Rocklyn Fuel Oil Corp. in Oceanside, said that the tax could put homeowners in a precarious financial position. "A lot of people are hurting and we have customers way past due, and we are trying to work with them," Petrillo said, "and the county is piling more on their plates."
For an average Oceanside homeowner like Mark Greenberg, the Web master for oceansidelocal.com, the energy tax is an unwelcome charge that will make it harder to live on the Island. "As an Oceanside resident, I can tell you more taxes are not good," Greenberg said. "We're already going up in school and library taxes, and it's difficult to make ends meet. A lot of Oceansiders are on fixed incomes and are trying to do more with less and less, and it makes it very stressful to live in Oceanside, where taxes keep going up year after year."
Island Park residents echo those concerns. Laura Hassett, the vice president of the Island Park Civic Association, said these kind of increases hit residents on fixed incomes hardest. "I feel the little man is paying for the greed of the big man," Hassett said. "I think people are frustrated and upset. We are getting it from all sides, the federal government, the state, the county. It's not fair. With people losing their jobs, this is not the time to be increasing taxes."
The problem, Hassett said, is that all the different taxes add up and chip away at salaries that haven't grown fast enough. "Our wages are not matching our bills, which makes it impossible to save money," she said. "I feel as if I'm in the same place financially as when I didn't work at all."
Kevin Rooney, CEO of the Oil Heat Institute of Long Island, a nonprofit trade association representing the heating industry in Nassau and Suffolk counties, said his organization opposes taxing commodities essential to life, health and safety. Rooney said that he understands the need for the tax, but he cautions that county dependence on a sales tax -- which is what the new tax amounts to -- is the primary cause of the budget gap.
"It's bad enough the purchases of cars and boats and clothes and materials are affected by the economy," he said, "but energy is affected also by the rise and fall of energy prices, and when you talk about an energy tax, it's also affected by whether the weather is colder or warmer."
Energy prices are lower now than they were at this time last year, Rooney said, and if that trend were to continue, the county could find itself with another budget shortfall. "They have to hope for high prices and cold weather -- exactly what the average customer hopes doesn't happen," he said of county officials. "When they rely on taxes from a commodity that is so volatile, it is foolhardy, but I understand why it has to be done."
Rooney likened the impact of the tax on an average family to the cost of a 20-ounce coffee per week, slightly less than $2. "I don't know that if I didn't have that $2, it would make a big difference," he said. "When you take these taxes in isolation, they're negligible, but when you add them up, they're nickeling and diming us to death.
"When you don't have a fair and equitable tax based on an individual's ability to pay," Rooney said, "you end up with all kids of hidden taxes. It's cumulative. A little here, a little there, before you know it, sooner or later you're talking about real money."
Comments about this story? AHoffmann@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 269.
