NORWICH – Chenango County lawmakers were challenged recently to use more of the county’s distribution of the 1998 Tobacco Settlement Agreement funds as they were originally intended – for prevention and cessation programs.

Public Health Director Marcas Flindt requested an increase in the salary that would be offered to a health educator who would manage tobacco use prevention programs in 2010. The position has been vacant for two years.

The salary for the position was set at $52,000 almost a decade ago, but Flindt said bargaining unit salary rasies have increased the amount since then to $56,251.

“We’ve never increased it,” he said.

The amount in the department’s personnel line was shifted earlier this year to cover the cost of purchasing defibrillators for the County Office Building.

In addition to setting aside $52,000 each year for health educational purposes, lawmakers have used Tobacco Settlement funds in order to afford operations and staffing at the Public Safety Facility; for pledges to the Chenango County Historical Museum and other capital campaigns and, last year, for a replacement HVAC system in the Information Technology Department.