Thursday, May 29, 2008 

(315)  798-5800

Picente Calls On State to Investigate Gas Prices

Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr., today announced that he has written New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to request an investigation into gasoline prices in Oneida County .

“The issue that we have is that two years ago, Oneida County took action to help consumers by capping the sales tax on gasoline to help drivers deal with high gasoline costs. However, when you look at pump prices, Oneida County is not correspondingly lower in price per gallon than nearby counties that did not cap the tax,” Picente said. “ Oneida County was willing to give up revenue so that consumers could benefit. However, if consumers are not benefitting, then we need to investigate the reasons why to ensure that there is no attempt to make up for the decrease in the tax by increasing the profits made on a gallon of gasoline. To protect the consumers of Oneida County , the state needs to investigate.”

In his letter to Cuomo, Picente said, “In order to provide some relief, Oneida County has had a cap on our gas tax since June 2006.  This cap allows the County to collect tax on the first $2 per gallon of gas and any amount over that is not taxed.  As such, the County receives approximately $.10 per gallon of gas regardless of the price.  It has been estimated by our Finance Commissioner that this cap costs Oneida County approximately $3.9 million per year in lost sales tax revenue.”

Picente also wrote, “My concern, and reason for this letter, is that despite our gas cap, the price per gallon of gasoline in Oneida County is the same as surrounding counties that have not capped their gas tax.  The reason for the cap was to provide our residents some relief from the ever rising gas prices.  However, this effort seems futile since the price in our County remains the same as surrounding counties.”

Picente concluded his letter by writing, “I believe that an investigation into the reason for this occurrence is necessary as it seems it could be an incidence of price gouging.  If Oneida County is willing to decrease its revenue from the tax on gas in order to help its residents, a difference in the prices should be apparent. I respectfully request that your office investigate this matter for the people of Oneida County .”