Don Deneault tops off his vehicle at the Stewart’s Shop pump in Saranac Lake on Friday, June 3. Deneault was visiting from Kansas, where gas was around $4.47 per gallon when he left, so, even after New York’s gas tax moratorium, which started taking around 16 cents off the state gas tax that week, $4.95 still felt high to him. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

With New York’s gas tax suspension beginning Wednesday, giving state motorists a 16-cent relief at the pump, Franklin and Essex county boards are discussing plans to either cap or completely eliminate county gas taxes, but that relief won’t come until the fall.

On Wednesday, New York removed 16 cents from its gas tax per gallon by suspending four types of state gas taxes until the end of 2022. The state usually charges around 48 cents per gallon in gas taxes.

But prices are still rising.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline in Essex County was $4.87 on Friday, according to data from the American Automobile Association, and the average price was $4.79 in Franklin County.

Both are higher than the national average of $4.76 but lie on different sides of the state average of $4.82.

One month ago, the average price per gallon in New York was $4.36, and prices have been steadily rising since then. Gas at some locations in the Tri-Lakes broke above $5 two weeks ago.

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Essex County considers gas tax elimination

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Wilmington town Supervisor Roy Holzer said he plans to ask the Essex County Board of Supervisors, which he sits on, to consider completely eliminating Essex County’s gas tax for 90 days in the fall.

By the end of the summer, Holzer said the county should have made what it budgeted for from gas-related taxes and wouldn’t need to charge it at all from October through December. He said the gas tax exists to offset costs which would otherwise be paid for by raising property taxes.

Essex County Treasurer Michael Diskin said any changes in gas tax for over the summer would have to be approved by July 16 to make it into this quarter’s budget, so he said the board will likely discuss the moratorium for the fall quarter, starting conversations in August.

The county collects a 4% sales tax on gasoline, as it does for all purchases.

Diskin thinks eliminating the tax for the last fiscal quarter of 2022 would help drivers, but he wondered if high gas prices may impact tourism this summer.

Holzer said he thinks the rest of the board is supportive of a 90-day break from all county-associated fees. They feel the increased prices, too, he said, and this moratorium would be something they can do for residents to directly help them.

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Franklin County considers gas tax cap

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Franklin County Legislature Chairman Donald Dabiew said his board is considering capping county gas taxes in the fall at $3 per gallon. So, if a gallon of gas costs $4 per gallon then, customers would pay county tax on the first $3 but not on the last $1.

“It’s not a huge amount of money, but every little bit helps,” Dabiew said.

Dabiew said a public hearing on this law will be held at the board’s regular meeting on June 16 at 11 a.m. in the county offices in Malone. People who cannot attend the hearing can call or write in comments from now until the day of the meeting. Legislator contact information can be found at https://bit.ly/3x8Xa18.

Dabiew said the board spoke about this proposal earlier this week.

“The whole board was in support of it. Nobody was against it,” he said.

The county makes around $0.04 for every dollar spent on gasoline from it 4% tax.

Dabiew said County Treasurer Fran Perry thought $3 was a good number and won’t have an effect on the county’s overall budget. This tax relief wouldn’t start until September, when the next fiscal quarter begins.

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A “good thing,” if they can keep it

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Holzer said he’s knowledgeable about gas because he used to sell gas at the Little Supermarket in Wilmington when he owned it with his wife.

In March, he got the Essex County board to pass a resolution requesting the state or federal government to suspend fuel-related taxes for 90 days, so he said he’s glad the state has chosen to eliminate a portion of its gas tax for the remainder of the year. He said prices have been high for longer than he anticipated. What he thought was only going to be a spike was a rise and a plateau.

“This is a good thing as long as the bigger oil companies don’t try to take advantage of it,” Holzer said.

He hopes, with the attention on gas prices, that oil companies wouldn’t be able to get away with taking advantage and won’t try to keep prices high.