Erie County surcharge Bills stadium revenue, Digi Mart USA News (Erie County, New York): Erie County is “almost three-quarters of the way toward meeting” its goal of raising $4 million annually through a 6% surcharge on purchases at the new Bills stadium, just two months after the venue opened, according to Michael Petro of the Buffalo News.
The surcharge, instituted for Highmark Stadium events, is “raking in an average of” $1.44 million per month through September. That adds up to nearly $2.9 million in the first two months that the stadium was open, putting the county “well on its way” to raising the $4 million per year over the 30-year stadium lease that officials “anticipated would come from the surcharge.”
The 6% surcharge is “being collected on top of the 8.75% sales tax applied to purchases in the county.” All that money will go toward “future upgrades and upkeep to the stadium and its campus and will count toward the county’s portion of those initiatives.”
The surcharge applies to stadium purchases such as “food and drinks, merchandise and at other Bills’ retail outlets in and around the building, as well as on parking in team lots and on tickets being purchased.”
