NORWICH – Sales tax collections in Chenango County dropped 12.5 percent, or $825,000, for the second quarter of 2009.

The figure compares to January through March results when only $30, or less than six percent, was lost compared to the same time period a year ago.

County Treasurer William B. Evans characterized the results as “no good news” for the county.

Neighboring counties were also off, with Delaware down 12.3 percent; Cortland, 6.7; and Otsego 6.5. Both Broome and Madison counties were down only 2.9 percent.

“If we stay on this track, we are going to get beat up on our margin,” Evans told members of the county’s Finance Committee at a meeting Thursday at the County Office Building on Court Street. The treasurer said the county currently carries a $556,000 margin, off from the $1 million carried in recent years.

Determining what sectors are to blame for fewer receipts has been difficult. Evans said a veil of “secrecy” protects vendors from having to disclose figures per district.

“Vendors don’t want to have people have the ability to back into what the sales are,” he said.

Evans said he and Town of Sherburne Supervisor Harry Conley have been trying to determine if sales tax collected from purchases at Lowe’s, located on state Rt. 12 in the Town of Norwich, has been appropriately flowing throughout the county.