by Carol Thompson

The State of New York’s fiscal woes have dominated headlines this year and Oswego County government leaders are now wondering just how serious the situation may be.

Not only is the state passing on more and more costs to county governments, it also passed a bad check to Oswego County recently.

Tuesday, county officials received a check returned from the bank unpaid with the notation “refer to maker.” The check was drawn from the account of the State Comptroller in the amount of $1,798.86.

“The comptroller’s office is telling us it’s a bank mix-up and the bank is telling us it’s the state’s problem,” Sheriff Reuel “Moe” Todd said Wednesday.

Besides not receiving the money, the county was charged a return-check fee, he noted.

The check was payment for money garnisheed from the paychecks of state employees. The money is taken from the employees’ checks and deposited into an account in the comptroller’s office, Todd explained.

A check is forwarded to the county sheriff’s department where it is redistributed to those creditors who are owed the money.

Todd said the check will be handled as any other bounced check. If the state doesn’t make good on the check, a protest will be filed.

The protest would allow the county to take either civil or criminal action, pursuant to state law.

According to County Treasurer John Kruk, when he receives a bad check in his office for a non-property tax transaction, it is re-desposited. If the check is returned a second time, collection proceedings begin

Kruk said his office handles about one bad check every five years. “We don’t see many of them,” he noted. And this is the first known bounced check from a government agency.

Checks that are returned to the county are subject to a $20 fee. “We charge a bounced check fee of $20, a fee set by New York State General Municipal Law,” Kruk said.

Sheriff Todd said he would like to recoup the fee that the bank charged for the return of the check. He was not sure what the exact amount charged by the bank.

As county officials were dealing with the bounced check, state leaders met in Albany Wednesday to discuss how to close a $3 billion budget gap.

It was reported that the state budget director said if lawmakers can’t reach an agreement, the state may not have the money to make payments due to school districts and city and county governments in December.

The bounced check is just one state-related problem Todd is facing. His department has been notified of budget cuts from the state, more so than other county departments, it was noted at a recent meeting.

In regard to the bounced check, county legislature Chairman Barry Leemann said, “I hope this isn’t the tide of things to come.”

The state comptroller’s office claimed Thursday that payment was stopped at the request of the county.

“The county contacted the state treasury to report that they lost the check and requested that the treasury issue a new one,” said state comptroller spokesperson William Reynolds. “The treasury agreed to do this, issued a new check on or about July 31, and put a stop payment on the original check that the county said was lost.”

Reynolds added, “The county cashed the second check Sept. 2 and it cleared our account. What happened was after a stop payment was placed on the original check, it was apparently found and someone (deposited) it.

“The check that ‘bounced’ is the original that should not have been cashed because a stop payment was placed on it after the county reported it was missing,” he continued. “It should have been discarded after it was found.”

The county, however, refutes Reynolds’ explanation.

According to Undersheriff Robert Lighthall, the state sent a check in July with no explanation as to what the check was for. Each check for an income execution is supposed to include an explanation as to how it is to be applied, which this payment lacked.

“When they responded back with an explanation, we deposited the check,”Lighthall said. “We never asked them to stop payment. We asked for clarification.”

The check had never been lost or reported as such, he said, nor did the state advise the county that a stop-payment had been issued.

As of press time, both parties were trying to resolve the issue and it was expected to be a matter of days before the circumstances are unraveled.