By JIMMY LAWTON

CANTON -- After just one budget year, St. Lawrence County has failed to keep on track with its five-year plan.

The plan was established in 2013 as part of a deal with state lawmakers to allow the county to collect an additional 1 percent sales tax.

The plan was designed to provide the county with a road map to get the county’s finances in order and stabilize the tax rate.

But St. Lawrence County Legislator Joseph Lightfoot, who is expected to be appointed chairman of the Board of Legislators in January, says meeting goals outlined in the plan are easier said than done.

Off the Rails

The deal called for close scrutiny of the budget, a promise to keep tax increases within the state’s 2 percent property tax cap, and to grow the county’s fund balance so the county would no longer have to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

While the county budget did come in below the cap, the county will finish the year with a $500,000 reduction to its fund balance.

In crafting the preliminary budget, county Administrator Karen St. Hilaire had expected to increase the county’s on-hand cash by $1.3 million, from $6.5 million to $7.8 million, but some mishaps with the county’s Home Health Care Agency forced lawmakers to instead dip into the reserve.

The five-year plan calls for increasing the fund balance over a number of years to at least $10 million by 2018. Once the county reaches that goal, it would have enough cash on hand to stop borrowing money for regular cash flow.

Lightfoot said the interest on borrowing money costs taxpayers about $100,000 per year.

He said a record-keeping error related to the county’s Home Health Care Agency lead to a $900,000 revenue for the county to be counted twice and said a second series of errors resulted in an additional $800,000 that the county was responsible for.

He said the county had recorded partial payments as payments received in full for a number of years.

“It didn’t get caught, it didn’t get attended to. We are responsible. It was a huge mistake, but we have to learn from the past and move forward,” he said.

Paying the Bills

Lightfoot said the five-year plan is a list of goals the lawmakers hoped to reach and while the county wants to grow its fund balance it must create a balanced budget. Unexpected costs, such as those from the Home Health Care Agency, force the county to come up with money.

“We can do that by raising taxes or we can do it by using fund balance, there aren’t a lot of options,” he said. “In the end you have to pay the bills.”

Lightfoot pointed out that the county has dissolved the Home Health Care Agency. The service is now operated by two private entities, which he says likely perform the same service at a lower cost.

Lightfoot said another factor that forced the county to deviate from the five-year plan was lackluster sales tax revenue. He said sales tax for the county is higher than last year because of the 1 percent increase, but transactions are down.

“Without the 1 percent we would have collected less than we did last year,” he said. “We don’t have control over what people spend.”

Lightfoot said the state is also partially responsible for the county’s budget woes.

“The state consistently reduces reimbursement rates, but mandates more and more costly expenses be taken over by the county government. Add that to the decrease in generation in sales tax revenue and you have a real problem,” he said, “That’s a big reason why there is not money to put in the fund balance.”

Back on Track?

For all of its problems, Lightfoot said there is some light at the end of the tunnel. He said the St. Regis Mohawk land claim Memorandum of Understanding could bolster the county’s budget by nearly $6 million annually and generate some one-time income that could help the county reduce its debt significantly.

“We have a real opportunity here to get our finances in order,” he said.

Lightfoot said that opportunity is being threatened by an amendment proposed by Democrats that would give $2.5 million of the county’s $4 million annual payment to the towns and schools in Brasher and Massena.

However, St. Lawrence County Democrats, including board chairman Jonathan Putney, say keeping the money in the county coffers would be unjust to the towns of Brasher and Massena, which will be most affected by the deal.

The amendment was tabled at a recent legislators meeting, due to an ethical question that is being reviewed by the county’s ethics committee.

At hand is whether or not Democrats Gregory Paquin and Jonathan Putney should vote on a resolution that could benefit Massena School District, where they are employed as teachers.

“My vote is the voice of my constituents in this legislature and I don't want my constituents to be silenced. If I cannot vote on the allocation of funds from a land claims settlement then my constituents will be negatively impacted,” Putney said regarding the ethics claim.

“Legislators (Kevin Acres) and Lightfoot know that if Mr. Paquin and I cannot vote the measure will fail.”

But Lightfoot says the county should be leery of giving away money given its current financial situation. He says the land claim funding would put the county back on track.