Let Λ be a numerical semigroup, C⊆An
the monomial curve singularity associated to Λ, and T its
tangent cone. In this paper we provide a sharp upper bound for the least
positive integer in Λ in terms of the codimension and the maximum
degree of the equations of T, when T is not a complete
intersection. A special case of this result settles a question of J. Herzog and
D. Stamate.Comment: To appear on Arkiv f\"or Matemati