The county's extra penny of sales tax will stay - was there any serious doubt that it wouldn't?

During a special meeting last night, the County Legislature passed a home-rule message to the State Legislature, asking them to authorize the tax. The measure is necessary for the State Legislature to pass the law.

The debate around the measure felt a little odd. Republicans seemed to be building a case for why the tax should be renewed, though nobody had really indicated that they would vote against it. Democrats, meanwhile, poked around to see what the impact would be on the intercept should the Lej not approve renewing the penny. (For the record, the county would be in a $64-million hole, since it swaps a share of its sales-tax revenue to cover its Medicaid costs. "By not sending this home rule message, it does not lower our Medicaid costs," said the county's Chief Financial Officer Scott Adair.)

Anyway, here are some stats from the discussion: the penny will generate over a two-year period an estimated $34 million for the city, $5.7 million for the towns, $2.3 million for the villages, and $9.4 million for the schools, said Adair. Without the penny, the county would face a two-year loss of $127 million. The extra penny gives Monroe County a total sales tax rate of 8 percent - 4 percent for the state and 4 percent for the county.

The only two no votes on the matter came from Democratic legislators Glenn Gamble and Calvin Lee. After the meeting, Lee explained his vote.

"I truly believe this was not in the best interest of city residents," Lee said.

Earlier, Republican Majority Leader Dan Quatro said he'd hoped that the measure would get full bipartisan support. Lee, however, said there were other times that the two sides should have sat down and talked, but didn't: the debate about city school nurse funding, the public defender selection process, and the sales tax intercept, for example. The Republicans only want to work in a bipartisan fashion when it benefits them, Lee said. So, he said, he didn't want to give them the political advantage.