AUBURN -- Auburn community members may soon get the chance to weigh in on the fate of the sales tax cap for gasoline inside the city limits.

During an Auburn City Council work session Wednesday, the council decided to put on next week's agenda, a resolution calling for a public hearing on the tax cap during a future meeting to hear what the public has to say about keeping or repealing the cap, under which the city stops collecting sales tax at $2 per gallon.

This is not the first time council deliberated on this measure. The governmental body unanimously defeated a local law in February that proposed repealing the cap, but agreed to revisit the issue after three months to see what effects it would have on the economy.

The Cayuga County Legislature removed a similar cap in November, and officials at the time said removing the cap would lead to more revenue for the city.

That is exactly what City Manager Mark Palesh and City Comptroller Lisa Green said Wednesday in their advocacy of repealing the cap.

Green estimated the cap is preventing the city from receiving an additional $300,000 in revenue, money that is theoretically in consumers' pockets, which could be used to off-set downturns in the economy. Palesh suggested the money could also be used to off-set property taxes.

"It's not like because we have the cap our prices are three to four cents lower," Green said. "Consumers are not rushing into the city to purchase their gas."

For more, read Thursday's Citizen