NorthCountryNow.com photo by Jimmy Lawton.

By MATT LINDSEY

POTSDAM – Between the Buns, 6 Elm St., expects to reopen this weekend after the business was seized Tuesday by the state for sales tax debt.

“Unfortunately, we fell behind with our sales tax at the start,” owner Meg Martin said in a prepared statement. “We have kept up with our bills, our payroll and all liabilities and taxes, aside from sales tax, until recently,” she said.

Martin said she was under the impression that the business was in compliance with all the state’s requests and that a payment agreement had been put into place but “unfortunately the state tax department has taken another direction on this matter and had made payments toward an IPA and future sales tax returns.”

Martin said she has meetings with representatives from the New York State Department of Tax and Finance to continue negotiations but said she expected to be open again for business this weekend.

Martin’s statement goes on to say:

“As a business that abides by all NYS laws, we pay all 45 employees on the books, and claim every cent of our sales and income tax.

Over the past three years, the increase of minimum wage and food costs going through the roof, we have seen our margins decrease until recently when the food prices leveled off due to decrease of energy and commodity prices dropping nationwide. We have paid all current taxes on time, and have been complaint with all audits and demands.

St. Lawrence County has seen a dozen of its restaurants close over the last five years and we are hoping to not be a part of the 90% statistic of new businesses that close within the first five years of being open.

“Our goal is to keep employment for our people and their families, which has been the goal all along.

We feel we have done a great job with our services at BTB providing entertainment, good food and good atmosphere to its patrons, and hope we can provide these services to the community in the future. We are grateful for our loyal customers and our incredible employees.

Not only will our employees at BT be affected, but the local vendors, suppliers, and any other local people that we buy products from will be hurt as well if BTB is discontinued. The goal is to help sustain the economy instead of be a detriment to it. Our payment plan was set to pay off our debt within four years, and that is still our plan.

It is an unfortunate situation for everyone involved, and we are hoping to complete our agreement with NYS tax and move forward.”