Does the bailout come too late for the North Country?

If Washington lawmakers are right, the $700 billion bailout will maintain solvency in the country’s financial markets and keep our major financial institutions afloat.

But in the short-to-mid-term, Wall Street profits are still likely to suffer huge hits. Which means that 20% of New York state’s budget could be essentially zeroed out.

That spells trouble for rural parts of New York.

“We have a lot of money coming to our areas from state and federal governments,” said Chuck Fluharty, with the Rural Policy Research Institute, in an interview today with North Country Public Radio’s David Sommerstein.

“And I think those are also going to decline over time.”

“Over time” could mean…now.

Already, state officials are talking about hiring freezes and service consolidation at key North Country agencies, including the Department of Correctional Services and the Adirondack Park Agency.

Those measures will mean fewer jobs, fewer paychecks.

The next hammer to drop could be state pass-through money that goes to local governments and school districts.

“It’s worrisome,” Watertown School Superintendent Terry Fralick told NCPR’s Jonathan Brown.

“From all the reports, it seems almost inevitable that [the cuts] will be significant. We’ve already had discussions as to our priorities, how can we do the same with less funding. It’s going to be very difficult.”

Fewer dollars mean fewer programs for kids, but schools in the North Country are also the region’s single largest employer.

The region’s hospitals and nursing homes (also big employers) rely heavily on state and federal reimbursements.

A vast array of regional non-profits and NGOs (including North Country Public Radio) also look to the government for a part of their funding base.

Naturally, other regions of New York will be hit hard by the loss of tax revenue.

But because of their relatively robust private-sector economies, New York City, the Hudson Valley and Western New York could weather the storm better.