AUBURN - According to a group of local lawmakers, the approval of the Cayuga Indian Nation's land-into-trust application could cause a serious erosion of the remaining tax base.

During a press conference on the steps of the Cayuga County Court House Thursday, members of the Cayuga and Seneca Counties' Task Force on the Cayuga Indian Land Into Trust argued that uncollected sales tax on sovereign land would create a large budgetary shortfall for the various municipalities, which would require an increase in property taxes to make up the difference.

"Sales taxes provide vital revenues to Cayuga County and its municipalities," task force member and county Legislator David Axton said in a prepared statement to the press. "The loss of such revenues seriously impacts municipal operations and can affect property tax rates."

With less than a week before the Bureau of Indian Affair's public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which analyzed the potential affects of the nation placing approximately 130 acres of land into trust - a process that would remove the properties from the tax rolls and make them exempt from local laws and regulations - lawmakers are trying to mobilize the public to stand with them in opposition to sovereign land.

"We encourage residents, government officials, fire departments and school districts to attend and to have your voice heard," Axton said. "Land in trust will affect us all, and the window of opportunity to have our concerns noted is rapidly closing."

People on both sides of the aisle have until July 6 to comment on the DEIS, which states that any environmental impact -- which includes issues of property taxes, businesses and economic development as well as the impact on the land -- from placing the land into trust would be negligible at most.