People and their pets in Schenectady County may be able to endure a much more peaceful and quiet Fourth of July night.

That's because the County Legislature is considering banning so called low-level fireworks, like sparkling devices, after it allowed them last year — then got swamped by complaints about skittish dogs and lost sleep.

On May 1 the legislature conducts a public hearing in what may be a step toward a ban.

Legislature Majority Leader Gary Hughes said the panel decided Tuesday to revisit the matter after a spike in fireworks-related emergency calls around Independence Day, as well as complaints of excessively loud and long celebrations.

"Massive fireworks displays" lit up Schenectady City Council President Leesa Perazzo's Bellevue neighborhood until around 3 a.m. last Fourth of July.

"It was like people's dogs were losing their minds, kids were crying, it was awful,"

Perazzo said. It's also a safety worry: In many city neighborhoods fireworks could ignite homes made of older housing stock that are very close to each other.

Two years ago, the newly enacted state law said low-level or small-scale fireworks were excluded from a ban on the sale and use of fireworks. Counties were allowed to opt into the measure to legalize the pyrotechnics.

After debate, Schenectady County and a few other Capital Region counties, including Saratoga, Rensselaer and Montgomery were among those who did.

Legislator Randy Pascarella, who introduced the proposal to repeal the fireworks, said 911 fireworks-related calls to the Schenectady Police on July 4 were "escalated at a higher rate ever in the history that I can remember."

And there was uncertainty. County residents thought legislators had legalized fireworks.

"We believe what was happening is that people would go outside our county, go outside our state, bring illegal fireworks in, and then there was some ambiguity about what was legal and what wasn't and it was just a strain on law enforcement," Pascarella said. "It was the old, 'we gave an inch, they took a foot'."

Hughes said if legislators decide to pass the law, fire and public safety officials would make a clear statement that "all fireworks of any type are always illegal in Schenectady County all the time," he added.

Pascarella also said the advantages of any sales tax revenue the county collected were far overshadowed by complaints about the harm pyrotechnics had on residents' quality of life.

County Legislator Brian McGarry agreed on holding the public hearing, but called the idea of banning fireworks a "knee-jerk reaction" that will only make police even busier going after people who flout the new law. He recommended a public education campaign.

Glenville Town Supervisor Chris Koetzle said he initially supported the fireworks law but after hearing horror stories from some residents he favors making some modifications but not forbidding them altogether. He said the bigger issue is a lack of oversight and the sale of the fireworks. The municipality has no control over where the dozen or so vendors set up shop, he said.

Montgomery County Legislature Chairman Roy Dimond said even with some new legislators on board, he feels that the law allowing the low-impact fireworks "has a good chance of being repealed" more so because it seems to have benefited out-of-state vendors setting up tents rather than local businesses.

Schenectady Fire Chief Ray Senecal, citing the rise in emergency calls and risks even from fire sparklers said he supports a ban — "without question."

After the public hearing, Schenectady County lawmakers could decide to vote on May 9 to repeal the local law allowing the fireworks, Hughes said.