Dollars and sense: sales tax revenue is this week’s TMR topic

The March 18 session of Thursday Morning Roundtable (TMR) will feature Kenneth Mokrzycki, director of administration for the City of Syracuse; James Rowley, CFO of the Onondaga County Department of Management and Budget; and James Rhinehart, chair of the Onondaga County Legislature and chair of the Legislature’s Sales Tax Committee. TMR meets from 8:15-9:15 a.m. at Drumlins, 800 Nottingham Road.

Onondaga County must renegotiate the county’s sales tax-sharing agreement with the City of Syracuse and other municipalities and school districts. The panelists, members of the sales tax committee, will explain their charge, discuss the history of the sales tax agreement, describe how the tax is shared, and provide some insight as to how the tax is used by municipalities and school districts.

Mokrzycki has served in a number of senior level positions for the City of Syracuse, including director of the Office of Management and Budget, deputy mayor, assessment commissioner and director of administration. He serves on the boards of the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, Syracuse Economic Development Corp. and the Downtown Committee. Mokrzycki received a B.A. with a dual major in government and philosophy from Hamilton College and an M.A. in political science from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

Rowley was elected to the Clay Town Board in 1995 and served as supervisor from 2006-08. During his tenure as supervisor, he merged the Clay Police Department with the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, saving Clay taxpayers $1million annually. He has held senior financial positions with various Central New York companies. Most recently, he was the CFO and director of personnel for Polaris Library Systems. Rowley received a B.S. degree from Clarkson University and an M.B.A. from Syracuse University

Prior to being elected as county legislator in the 6th district in 2003, Rhinehart served as a trustee for the village of Skaneateles from 1999-2000. He was also the mayor of Skaneateles from 2001-04. Rhinehart has been an independent business owner in Central New York for more than 25 years. He serves on several community boards.

For more information, contact Sandra Barrett, director of community programs, at (315) 443-4846 or visit http://www.yesu.syr.edu/community/tmr. The TMR program is broadcast on WCNY-FM 91.3 on Sundays at 7 p.m. and at http://www.wcny.org/tmr.