The Peru Gazette

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State tax receipts in June were down $1.5 billion or 17.3 percent from the previous year, according to the monthly state cash report released by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

“As steps toward an economic reopening continue, state tax revenues remain far short of pre-pandemic levels,” DiNapoli said. “Currently, state spending is well below projections, as the Division of the Budget withholds some payments in response to fiscal uncertainty. All eyes are on Washington. New York and its localities badly need more federal aid if they are to respond fully to the COVID-19 crisis.”

Other items of note in the report:

• June tax receipts were $475 million below DOB’s latest projections, with shortfalls in personal income, consumption and business taxes.
• For the combined “measurement period” of May and June, as defined in this year’s enacted budget, State Operating Funds tax receipts were 93.7 percent of the level projected in the Enacted Budget Financial Plan, while State Operating Funds disbursements were 69.2 percent of the anticipated amount.
• All Funds spending through June was $6.3 billion below Financial Plan projections, with Local Assistance disbursements representing $5.7 billion of that total.
• Unemployment Insurance payments in June totaled just under $13.5 billion, compared to $135.6 million a year earlier.
• The General Fund ended the month with a balance of $6.9 billion, $5.1 billion higher than the latest projection by DOB.

June Cash Report

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Stewart’s Press Release 

July 15, 2020—With the current circumstances, many nonprofits are struggling due to COVID-19. Stewart’s recognized there was an urgent need; they acted quickly and provided over $1 million in monetary and product relief to hundreds of impacted organizations. At this time, Stewart’s is taking a pause on COVID-19 relief applications, and will evaluate the need moving forward.

With an increased demand on services, many nonprofits experienced strains on budget, staffing and resources. Many of these organizations were forced to cancel fundraising events; while facing an increase in demand for items and services. The Stewart’s Shops COVID-19 relief grants helped hundreds of organizations with sustainability.

• Bread, milk and egg gift certificates were distributed to school districts to keep backpack programs going to feed families in need.
• Aid was given to shelters to help the homeless.
• Organizations like the United Way and Home Independent Care were able to purchase necessary PPE equipment.
• The Children’s Museum of Saratoga provided virtual educational programs and enhanced their hands-on exhibits to prepare for reopening.
• C.R.E.A.T.E. Community Studios was able to purchase and provide art supplies to community members.

These are just a few of the many examples of how Stewart’s was able to help these organizations get through these uncertain times while staying true to their mission.

According to Amy Potter, Stewart’s Corporate Contributions Director, “With so much need, we felt compelled to help where we could above and beyond our annual giving. With a long-standing history of helping nonprofits, we knew we could offer these organizations guidance, product donations and monetary assistance to get them through these unprecedented and uncertain times.”

Anthony DeLuca, Executive Director of the Little Falls YMCA said, “Thank you for your generous and timely support to our agency. This grant will provide much needed food and supplies to families in our service area experiencing insecurity through our Food Pantry program initiatives. During this crisis we have experienced a marked increase in demand for services and your support will enable us to better meet these needs.”

Stewart’s supports the following nonprofits: Arts, Education, Recreation, Health, Social Services, and Civic groups. The company is committed to giving back to the communities in which they are located, donating approximately $2.5 million a year to local nonprofits with The Dake Family Foundations contributing an additional $5 million. Despite the pause on COVID relief applications, Stewart’s is reviewing applications that go beyond COVID relief at this time.

Source: Nursing home employee tests positive, then negative for COVID-19 | Coronavirus | pressrepublican.com

Check out the great food being prepared for today’s Peru soup kitchen. Huge peanut butter cookies and delicious chile. John Edwards said, “This is the largest amount of chile I’ve ever prepared.” Take-out only 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at St. Augustine’s Parish Center.

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CCHD – Though we do not have the ability to respond to every comment or question on social media we have noticed some trends that we hope to be able to clarify for you, our Clinton County residents.

– Some labs are taking a particularly long time to report test results. This is not something that we have control over, but it does sometimes affect when cases are reported to you, and how soon after you see individuals move to the recovered category.
-The isolation period for an asymptomatic person (a person who is tested, but has no symptoms) begins on the date their test is collected.
-For a symptomatic person (a person with symptoms of COVID-19), isolation starts when their symptoms began.
-The word “recovered” is used to describe someone who is no longer infectious, or able to pass the virus to another person. This also means that when a person is “recovered,” isolation can be discontinued. A person who is recovered may still experience ongoing effects from the virus.
-For full details on when a person is considered “recovered,” or when isolation can be discontinued, visit https://bit.ly/32nBUXM. In general, for an individual with symptoms of COVID-19, isolation starts when their symptoms began and continues for a minimum of 10 days, and until there is no fever for at least 3 days and symptoms have improved.
-There are multiple criteria that may place an individual in the probable category. For the probable case definition used by NYS, visit https://bit.ly/3en5n7o. Some examples of criteria that may place an individual in the probable category can include an indeterminate test result or antibody test results. If a person is found to have antibodies, they may also already be considered “recovered.” If a person receives indeterminate test results, they may be retested and subsequently test positive or negative. A person in the probable category may remain in the probable category, may be moved to the confirmed case category, or may be removed from numbers if they are determined to not be a COVID-19 case, all based on epidemiologic criteria. Note that this is not a category that CCHD developed. A case definition is a set of uniform criteria used to define a disease for public health surveillance. These enable public health officials to classify and count cases consistently across reporting jurisdictions.

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Peru – New shingles were installed earlier this month by Ronald H. Hoy Construction of Plattsburgh at a cost of $17,455. 

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Have you explored the NY Forward website? Additional NYS reopening guidance is updated often–you can stay informed by exploring their website at https://forward.ny.gov/

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“With the recent guidance for reopening schools released by New York State, over the last few days I have heard from many school administrators, teachers, faculty and parents from our local school districts. While it is great to see guidance available for schools to create reopening plans, it is clear this will not be an easy decision and numerous factors will need to be weighed. It is imperative that teachers and faculty have a seat at the table when these decisions are being made so that any decision is a collaborative effort between educators and healthcare officials. We need to listen to our superintendents, teachers, and faculty because they understand what our students need to be successful.

A major concern for many North Country school districts is the affordability of the PPE and hand sanitizer that is required under the guidance. As an advocate for public education, I understand the current fiscal situation for our local school districts and share their concerns about the affordability of PPE and hand sanitizer. With that said, whether school districts can afford PPE and hand sanitizer should not have to be a factor in the decision to reopen because these items are a necessity for protecting students and educators. Nothing is more important than providing a safe environment for our children and their teachers and the least New York State can do is provide PPE and hand sanitizer for our public schools.

In the upcoming weeks, I will continue to advocate for the State to provide PPE and hand sanitizer for schools to make sure that our local school districts have the proper equipment to keep our children and their educators safe. I will continue to listen to our local school districts to make sure that their voices are heard while these important decisions are made.

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