Checked your utility bill lately? Under the list of growing fees, you”™ll find a new one tacked on: New York State Assessment.
For a typical Orange & Rockland or Central Hudson customer whose bill is $230, the fee amounts to approximately $4. While it might not sound like a fortune to an average residential customer, for business owners and manufacturers, it can make or break the bank.
When the state enacted the budget for 2009-10, a provision requiring the Department of Public Service to collect a temporary state energy and utility conservation assessment was part of the package passed by the Legislature. It affects both residential and commercial users.
The “temporary state assessment,” effective from April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2014, is applicable to electric, gas, steam and water corporations, municipal and electric and gas corporations subject to commission jurisdiction.
It is expected to generate an estimated $540 million in additional revenue during the 2009-2010 state fiscal year for the support of the state”™s General Fund.
Ron Hicks, president of Rockland”™s Economic Development Corporation, says it is “just another example of how New York State quietly taxes people and businesses. It”™s funny, you can ask the public to pay $25 a year for new license plates to raise $129 million and it”™s defeated in days; but the state can raise half a billion on the backs of individuals and businesses without giving people advance warning or voice on the issue.”
According to Hicks, utilities fought the fee both individually and collectively through associations; however, “it did not get the public visibility or discussion as a tax increase. These ”˜fees”™ further strangle the economy and prosperity of the region and move us further from the competitive environment that is sorely needed.”
“We opposed it when it was included in the budget ”“ stating that industrial and commercial electric power already cost about 40 percent above the national average ”“ before it became law, but it was passed along with other assessments,” said Michael Moran, director of communications for the Business Council of New York. “We think it should be reversed, but as you know, the state is facing an almost $4 billion deficit, so there”™s not much conversation going on about reducing taxes.”
A bill to repeal the 18-A assessment, A.9098/S.6132, is sponsored by Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R-Albion and state Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer, R-Williamsville.
