Tupper Lake village Mayor and Franklin County Legislator Paul Maroun. (Enterprise photo — Kelly Carroll)

TUPPER LAKE — Franklin County Legislator Paul Maroun has announced he will seek another term on the board, running on his nearly 30 years of experience.

“I still think I have a lot to offer, It’s why I’m running again,” Maroun said. “When I don’t feel that I have something to offer I won’t run again.”

Maroun has been a member of the county legislature on and off for 29 years, starting in 1978. He is the senior member of the board and has served on every committee it has.

He said these years have given him expansive knowledge of the history of most laws, negotiations and people in the county. He spoke highly of the people he works with and said he uses his rapport with county officials to help constituents in unique ways.

“I’ll never break the law, but I’ll bend the books (for my constituents),” Maroun said, giving the hypothetical example of holding back a foreclosure sale of a house with a family living in it.

He said legislators have an “informal agreement” that if one objects to a foreclosure auction in their district, and has good reason, they will hold it.

“If I know a family is living there and they’re working hard but just can’t pay, I’d give them another chance to get their feet on the ground,” Maroun said.

He wants constituents to know he is accessible. He keeps his name and phone number in the phone book.

Maroun is also the Tupper Lake village mayor. He said the two jobs are intertwined and that he wants to make sure the south end of Franklin County, where Tupper Lake is, gets the same services as the north. With the bulk of county offices in Malone, he said services tend to be focused up there as well.

“You know how busy you get during the day,” Maroun said. “They get stuck at their desk in Malone.”

Maroun said while he can’t bring the jail, Department of Motor Vehicles or pistol permit offices closer, he wants social service programs like the Office of the Aging, Veterans’ Affairs, probation and parole to have a strong presence in Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake.

Maroun said he wants to keep the tax rate the same, but that it is difficult with the state’s tax cap, which is 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower, plus an adjustment formula.

“You can’t maintain 2 percent … if you’re going to pay your unions and your staff 2.5 and 3 percent,” Maroun said. “It will catch up to you eventually. You will either use all of your fund balance, or you will have to override the 2 percent (tax cap).”

Maroun said he wants the state to take capital construction projects out of 2 percent cap, like school districts do.

“The governor, a great guy, but he can’t keep putting mandates on villages, towns, school districts and counties and then say you have to stay under the 2 percent cap,” Maroun said. “It is not only illogical; it is impossible.”

Maroun said his main concerns for the county are maintaining Sunmount, the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities hub in Tupper Lake, the Adirondack Club and Resort project in Tupper Lake — which he said could be the “biggest single increase to tax revenue in the history of Franklin County,” — and the land negotiation with the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation.

He said the transfer of approximately 9,200 acres in Bombay and Fort Covington to the Native American Mohawk nation has been debated for decades, long before he was on the board, and that it is now as close as ever to reaching a conclusion.

Because that transfer would mean a loss of tax revenue, the state would pay the county for the transaction, and Maroun said he wants to make sure all 19 towns in the county get their “fair share.”

Maroun said he wants to make sure North Country Community College is able to continue successfully.

He is the current chair of the county administration committee, which oversees the County Clerk, Board of Elections, County Manager, Negotiations & Grievance, Personnel, County Attorney, County Coroners and

Data Processing departments.

Currently, Maroun faces no competition for the county seat. Tupper Lake village Trustee Ron LaScala has said he is considering a run, circulating a Facebook poll gauging who would support him and discussing the possibility with local media.

Both LaScala and Maroun said there would be no “hard feelings” if the two faced each other in an election.

With new election laws passed in January, the date to start petitioning for signatures is Feb. 26.