To the Editor:

I know Adam Jarrett––a doctor and distinguished medical officer. I know John Michno­­––a caring and highly respected local educator. I know both are running for St. Lawrence County Legislature. What I don't know is why the current legislature has normalized the neglect of their most needy constituents.

St. Lawrence County has 11,655 residents receiving SNAP benefits, according to the Watertown Daily Times. On September 11, county leaders stood in Gouverneur with their counterparts from Jefferson and Lewis counties to warn that starting October 1, the federal government's share of SNAP administrative costs drops from 50 percent to 25 percent. New York is one of only three states where counties, not the state, absorb the entire difference. St. Lawrence County's own social services commissioner puts the added cost at nearly $800,000 this year, climbing past $1 million by 2027. That same commissioner projects up to 600 more county residents will lose SNAP eligibility this year under new federal work requirements.

This county has faced a version of this test before and failed. Last November, with SNAP frozen by the federal shutdown, a resolution came before the Finance Committee to send $150,000 to the Food Bank of Central New York to refill local pantries. Rather than approve the emergency assistance, the committee tabled the resolution, with Joseph Lightfoot and Rita Curran voting to delay the funding, suggesting a bewildering lack of solicitude.

While I do concede the state will have to contribute more to both SNAP administration and Medicaid — those OBBBA cuts are already in the mail — St. Lawrence County can afford to feed its own people right now. The chair of the county legislature told WWNY in February that the county's fund balance stands at roughly $70 million. This Republican-controlled legislature opposes the SNAP cuts in public, standing at a podium in Gouverneur to call them an unfunded mandate, while doing nothing to blunt the damage other than threatening to pass the costs directly on to taxpayers.

The incumbents have already told us what they'll choose: place full burden on the state, hoard the county's tax revenues, badger Washington and Albany for a handout, and pass the buck onto taxpayers. I'm supporting Adam Jarrett in District 3 and John Michno in District 15 to bring some rational leadership and civic compassion to the county. I hope you do too.

Mark Valley
Waddington