CANTON -- A member of the St. Lawrence County legislature’s finance committee suggested the board not to adopt a tax on brown paper bags.

Legislator Joseph Lightfoot, R-Ogdensburg, said the county will be able to impose the fee as part of the statewide ban on single-use plastic bags coming in March.

"We as a county can impose a paper bag fee on the consumer, unless the consumer is receiving some sort of listed public benefits ... if they were receiving those benefits, they would be exempt from paying that fee,” he said. "My personal feeling is it just doesn't seem worth the aggravation and what we're going to have to, those unforeseen events ... collecting it, reporting it."

He said the reporting requirements are “pretty extensive.”

“My personal feeing is I would not want to see the county get involved in something like this,” Lightfoot said.

The county would be allowed to tax 5 cents per paper bag. Three cents would go to New York state and the county could keep two.

Lightfoot, who chairs the full board meetings, suggested the other legislators “take a good hard look at it” before making a final decision.