BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

The Democratic candidate for the St. Lawrence County legislature’s District 5 thinks they should be doing more to address disparities in childcare options throughout the county.

Amber Ormasen of Gouverneur is running for the seat to represent Gouverneur and Depeyster. She is a middle school art teacher at the Gouverneur Central School District.

She says she didn’t plan to run for elected office, but was asked to and felt the time is right.

“It’s just really a culmination of a lot of little things. It’s not something I ever intended, sought, on my journey,” she said. “There’s a lot of smaller reasons that added up to me saying yes when asked … I’m always on a mission for the greater good.”

“Locally in my community, with the political climate, I was really saddened by some of the conversations I was having,” Ormasen said. “Once I started having conversations with people outside my circle, the discouragement and frustration of my community members was very noticeable.”

One of the frustrations she’s heard is access to childcare options. She believes there is a disparity in those options between her hometown and other communities in the county. She says it’s not being brought up at legislative meetings.

“It’s school, how do we get the kids back to school safely, and the new mandates that have come out, and childcare services. Parents are struggling,” she said. “Compared to Potsdam and even Canton … they actually even have more opportunities for childcare than here in Gouverneur. We’re relying on parents, siblings to be watching children so the parents can continue to work as essential workers.”

Ormasen thinks the county’s large fund balance, well upward of $20 million, could possibly create some of those options, but she doesn’t think they should spend it too far down.

“It’s a combination of maintaining that fund balance is a good goal, but at some point you’ve got to take an opportunity to use that,” she said.

She called the fund balance a “rainy day fund” and believes, “I really think we’re kind of at a storm right now.”

“Spending down, it depends on what you’re spending it for … We really have a lot of uncertainty as far as what’s going to come as funding. Maintaining is that nice middle ground of you’re thinking of security … demands for services are clearly going to go up,” she said. “I don’t think in the middle of a pandemic is the time to be thinking about bringing in more money, using the taxpayers money and try to grow that.”

Tied to the fund balance are ongoing sales tax distribution negotiations. The sales tax charged by the county was originally intended to offset state mandated costs, specifically Medicaid. For decades, the county collected 3% on each dollar, while the state collected 4%.

In 2013, St. Lawrence County successfully convinced state lawmakers to collect an extra 1%, increasing total sales tax in the county from 7 to 8%.

Ogdensburg and St. Lawrence County have been negotiating the sales tax distribution formula for some time. Both sides recently agreed to keep the formula as is for one year as details on how best to distribute the taxes are hammered out.

She says since she hasn’t sat on the board, she isn’t privy to the same information as sitting legislators, and feels she needs to learn more.

“I need to hear the county legislators’ point of view,” she said. “I have not formed an opinion. I do know that … I guess for me the biggest issue is my town and village … we want that bigger share to go along with Ogdensburg. It was already voted on, it’s on the table right now in Depeyster.”

“For me to form an opinion, I’m leaning toward representing my constituents and learning more. It’s quite complicated. I really want to be on the seat and ask those questions … Everybody in my circle is completely for giving that money to the towns. My mind is sitting here saying ‘wait a minute, we also need this for our county,’” Ormasen said. “If I had to choose, right now I’d say I’m for my town and village because that’s where I’m sitting right now.”