By CRAIG FREILICH

With funding stalled in Congress, local officials are worried there might not be enough money for St. Lawrence County residents who need help with heating their homes this winter.

“Everyone here is a little edgy,” said Linda Clark, coordinator of the county’s social services Home Energy Assistance Program, or HEAP.

Clark says that while the number of people applying for the benefit this year is “about normal,” there is concern that Congress won’t act before the money on hand for the program runs out.

Even if they do approve an appropriation and pass it on to the president for his signature, the U.S. Senate “has proposed a substantial reduction from last year,” according to a letter to President Obama from New York Gov. David Paterson. He and several other governors are asking the Senate and House of representatives to act to get the money into the hands of the state agencies that pass it along to localities.

Paterson says the amount available to New York under the current proposal would be $276.7 million, which is $202.3 million less than New Yorkers were allotted last year.

More people are eligible for HEAP benefits this year because the income guidelines for low-income people to receive help have gone up, but Clark says there has been no great jump in the number of applicants. Most people who receive the HEAP benefit are senior citizens and people whose households include a “vulnerable” person – an older person, a young child, or a disabled person – and people who are already receiving assistance such as Food Stamps.

As of last week, 8,384 households had been approved to receive HEAP benefits, which are typically $400 to $700 worth of fuel, with the money paid directly to the fuel provider. Additional emergency benefits can be approved.

“The benefits are about the same as they have been,” Clark says, and the number of applicants appears in line with previous years.

“But the amount in the bill in Congress is down from last year,” Clark said. That makes for uncertainty among applicants, and uncertainty among the 12 people in her unit over what they can do for applicants.

“Everyone here is a little edgy,” she said. “It usually comes through,” she said, but what she hears about the climate in Washington is just increasing the uncertainty this year.

The process for handling applications is a little different than it has been, Clark explains. Organizations that were authorized to certify applications on behalf of the Department of Social Services, such as St. Vincent DePaul, are not doing that anymore. But the process is somewhat simplified. People who have not had HEAP benefits before and think they are qualified can call the HEAP line at 379-2303 and request an application, and when the application is returned, an interview can be done by telephone instead of in person.

“It saves some time,” Clark said.

“We’re really busy at this time of year,” she said. “We’re just happy it hasn’t been colder. When it’s cold, the phones ring more.”