BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

CANTON — St. Lawrence County has collected $48,000 from Multi-Use Trail permit fees.

Additional funding generated through the trail fees have gone to clubs.

At the July 26 St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators Finance Committee meeting a resolution established a reserve fund for the recreational trail and outlined how money raised through the permitting process would be spent.

According to the resolution 60% of funds will go toward maintenance, 15% will be used for trail expansion, 10% will be used for equipment repairs, 10% will go into a contingency fund and 5% will be used for administration.

The resolution states that legislators will receive an annual report that captures the use of staff and equipment. The report will also categorize expenses of the trail fund policy following the close of the Multi-Use Trail Season.

Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Acres asked if any of the funding would be used for policing the trail after noting that complaints of improper use and excessive noise had been raised.

Legislator Tony Arquiett said that complaints are addressed with the administration portion of the budget, but noted that the vast majority of trail users are obeying the rules.

Legislators said that while there will always be bad actors and those who raise complaints, overall the trail use has been positive.

Arquiett added that a sub-committee would be created to deal directly with community relations.

The system provides 126 miles of multi-use trails.

Trail permit fees are $65 for non-recreational club members, and $45 for members. For families with multiple machines at one-address additional fees are $20 per additional machine.

Permits can be obtained online at https://stlawco.org/multi-use-permit-application.