MALONE — Early worries about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on Franklin County finances have so far not materialized as the county reaches the halfway point of its fiscal year, county Treasurer Fran Perry told the county Legislature on Thursday.

Sales tax revenues had been lagging last year’s receipts as recently as last month, but Perry said those numbers have rebounded significantly. The county has taken in nearly $12 million in sales tax revenues, $362,000 more than it received at this point in 2019, Perry said.

However, that good news was not the result of increased spending in the county, Perry said. Rather, it came as the result of an audit of sales tax distributions by the state that found Franklin County had received less than it was due, she said.

Without the correction from the state, the county’s sales tax collections for this year would have fallen short of last year’s by about $300,000, county Manager Donna Kissane said.

Even taking into account the audit windfall, the county’s receipts are better than officials had feared. Perry last month told legislators that sales tax payments were down roughly 8% from the prior year; the receipts excluding the audit-adjusted payment represent about a 3% decrease from last year.

The good news on sales taxes was somewhat offset by the expected bad news on occupancy tax revenues. The county has so far received $121,000 in occupancy taxes this year, down by $67,000 from the prior year, Perry said.

But even the occupancy tax picture is somewhat brighter than anticipated. Perry said there has been a 28% increase in the number of properties registered as short-term rental units in the county, from 127 last year to 163 so far this year. She credited efforts by the county to educate property owners and to enforce the registration requirement for boosting that number.

In total, county revenues as of the end of June represented about 49% of the year’s anticipated receipts, Kissane said. And thanks to cost-cutting measures, expenses at the midway point of the year are about 42% of planned spending, she said.

Perry also had good news for legislators from the county’s delinquent property tax amnesty program.

Thanks to the amnesty, which waived interest on overdue tax bills, 426 property owners have paid their outstanding tax bills in full — pouring $1.382 million into county coffers in the form of back tax payments.

Delinquent taxpayers still have until July 31 to take advantage of the program, Kissane noted, with Perry saying she expects a last-minute rush in payments next week.

“It’s been a great program,” Perry said, but she recommended the Legislature not renew it when it expires at the end of the month, citing looming school tax bills property owners will be facing soon.

“It really helps us when we need it,” said legislature Chairman Don Dabiew, D-Bombay.

The program produced “a lot of wins,” for both taxpayers and the county, Kissane said.

Despite the success of the program, there are roughly 1,900 parcels with overdue tax bills, Perry noted.

The county is preparing to place at least 41 of those parcels on the foreclosure auction block once a judicial order halting foreclosures expires, she said. That order is currently set to end Aug. 20, but Perry said she does not expect an auction to take place until next year because of expected backups in the legal process.