Posted by: Josh Boose, News Reporter

Created: 5/5/2008 9:35:38 PM
Updated: 5/5/2008 11:29:00 PM

"Gas has gotten so high, so expensive," said Erie County Legislator Kathy Konst. "People are just really looking for some relief at the pump."

Konst is one of the Erie County legislators who want to cap the sales tax for gas in Erie County at three-dollars.

"Our budget has already been built on revenues from three dollars a gallon and anything above that we consider a windfall," Konst said.

If the prices at the pump jump to four dollars a gallon, Konst says capping the tax at three bucks would save drivers roughly five cents a gallon.

"We don't believe any of the savings would be passed on to consumers," said Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz.

Poloncarz says, in other counties across the state that did cap the gas tax, drivers didn't notice any price change.

"Past experience in New York state shows savings are not passed on to the consumers, but the oil companies take that as additional profits and just charge the same amount and keep the difference for themselves," said Poloncarz.

"We're talking about seven digit numbers that also would be shared with towns, villages, cities and school districts because we share all our sales tax," Poloncarz said.

2 On Your Side's Josh Boose asked Konst, "To someone like Mark Poloncarz or the county executive who says we cannot do this, this will affect how we do business in Erie County, what do you say?"

"I say, you're going to have to show us the figures, make your case and we're going to have to decide accordingly," Konst replied.

A committee meeting is planned Wednesday to further discuss capping the sales tax on gasoline. But in the end, Poloncarz says the county has little control.

"There's really not a lot we can do on the local front," he said. "This has to be handled on the national level."