ALBANY, NY — The week of Sunday, April 26, the New York State Assembly passed a bill Assembly Member Kay sponsors requiring tax-collecting officers to accept payments of taxes, including any interest due, rounded to the nearest five-cent denomination. Currently, New York State law prohibits tax collectors from collecting taxes in cash if they cannot make exact change. With pennies no longer in production, this will become an increasingly common
problem municipalities will face, and providing tax collectors with the flexibility to round to the nearest five-cent denomination is a necessary solution, according to Kay's office.

“This bill is a win for both municipalities and taxpayers,” Assembly Member Kay said. “While it is obviously ideal to make exact change, the phaseout of pennies will soon make that impossible. Our municipalities need to accept tax payments to remain operational, and our taxpayers need to pay their taxes to stay out of default. This bill will help both parties and keep business running for the municipalities that make up our state.”

The idea for this bill was brought forward by City of Middletown Mayor Joe DeStefano, anticipating the negative impacts without state intervention.

Assembly Member Kay added, “I can’t thank Mayor DeStefano enough for having the foresight to alert me to this problem when he did. This is a real issue that will have real impacts on the operations of our towns, cities and villages if we don’t act, and I’m glad my Assembly colleagues recognized that and voted in favor of it on the floor. Government works best when we all work together to identify problems and work toward solutions, and this is a shining example of that collaboration.”

Mayor Joe Destefano said “It is so important that this bill gets done this year. It provides a real solution to a real problem that towns, cities and villages—if they haven’t felt it yet—will in the years to come. The City of Middletown is so lucky to have fighters in Albany like Assembly Member Kay and Senator Skoufis. I came to them in January with this, and they got right to work. I can’t thank Assembly Member Kay enough for getting this piece of legislation passed in the Assembly, and I know Senator Skoufis will fight to get it done in the Senate soon as well.”

This bill is sponsored by Senator Skoufis in the Senate and has been delivered to the Senate, where it is currently in the Standing Committee on Local Governments.