MALONE — Franklin County treasurer Fran Perry addressed lawmakers prior to their regular meeting Thursday at the courthouse and said while sales and occupancy tax revenue was up in 2023, there is a need for stronger enforcement on occupancy taxes that she says are being collected but the county is not receiving.

Perry said so far this year, the county has collected $25,382,000 in sales tax revenue. The budget forecast $27 million, and Perry said she expects the sales tax collected by the end of the year to exceed last year’s $32 million, an anticipated 5.3% increase from 2022.

“We will still be ahead of budget, so next year what we did to try to bring us more inline is we did increase our sales tax budget to the historical number,” Perry told lawmakers. “I’m confident that we should see reasonably level numbers.”

She added that the county has collected $818,000 so far this year and it is anticipated the $1 million mark will be exceeded for the second consecutive year. She said, however, that stronger enforcement efforts are needed to ensure the county is collecting what it is owed in those taxes. She said she is working with county attorney Janelle LaVigne to ramp up those efforts.

“We do have a handful of occupancy tax registrants that are collecting occupancy tax and not remitting timely, or not remitting at all,” Perry said. “The enforcement is going to become a little more strict.

“We’ve done what we can do but we have paperwork ready for Janelle to take the next step with us.”

County manager Donna Kissane said that enforcement will be increased on businesses that are not registered as well as on those that are registered and collecting the taxes, but not remitting.

“They’re collecting and not submitting,” Kissane said.

Perry clarified that the occupancy tax is not paid by businesses or individuals, but rather is collected from renters by those businesses and individuals on behalf of the county.

“This is not a cost to that registrant or that property owner,” Perry said. “This is just like sales tax. It is a tax for the municipality. They are collecting it on our behalf, it is not coming out of their coffers. They are taking it directly from the individual who’s renting that parcel, that property, that room and they should be setting it aside to remit to the county because they’re collecting it on our behalf.

“This is not their money, this is the county’s money that we are telling them, by law, to collect. That’s all it is. It is actually illegal to utilize those funds for your own personal benefit.”

She said the law directs that occupancy taxes be remitted quarterly, unless special permission has been granted by the treasurer’s office to remit annually.

“That is for generally for very small renters,” Perry explained. “So if I had a camp and I rented it out by the year than I could do it annually.”

Lindy Ellis, D-Saranac Lake, asked Perry if she needed anything from the legislature to ramp up enforcement efforts.

“At this point, I don’t,” Perry said. “In the law it allows Janelle and I to step up the enforcement. I wanted you aware, I don’t want you to be blindsided if you find out that we’ve begun higher enforcement.”

Perry went on to say the her office has, and continues to, actively work to make businesses and individuals aware of occupancy tax collection and remittance requirements.

“It’s one thing if a property owner is not aware and they don’t collect the occupancy tax. We understand, we make them knowledgeable, and they correct the issue,” Perry said. “It’s another thing when you are collecting this tax for Franklin County but you’re not giving it to Franklin County.”

The occupancy tax program began in 2015, and Perry said it is in need of revamping.