By CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County legislators are predicting a $4 million budget shortfall this year, and are asking department heads to come up with ways to cut their expenses.

The legislators are forecasting a $2 million shortfall in projected sales tax revenue and a $2 million jump in the cost of health insurance.

“But things are moving all the time,” St. Lawrence County Treasurer Kevin Felt said, “so we don’t know for sure” what will happen between now and the end of the fiscal year. “They’re trying to be proactive.”

Though sales tax revenues were rising during the course of last year, they were still below projections, Felt said.

“In the first quarter last year there was a big jump, in the second quarter not as much, and the third quarter even less,” but the trend was still upward, Felt said. “If it continued we thought we might be in a good position, but in the first quarter of this year, it dropped.”

The Canadian loonie continues to drop in value relative to the US dollar, so Felt believes that has deterred Canadian shoppers from coming across the border to make purchases, contributing to the drop in revenue from sales tax in the county. Lower gas prices have also cut revenue for the county.

Earlier this month the state Legislature approved continuation of the one percent sales tax increase in St. Lawrence County that was first granted two years ago, hiking the county’s share from three to four percent.

State legislators at the time required the county board to adopt a five-year plan aimed at reducing spending and building up reserves, and the county is still struggling to meet that goal.