NORWICH – Chenango County’s fourth quarter 2009 sales tax receipts were 0.6 percent lower than the same quarter in 2008, resulting in a 6.6 percent drop from 2008 to 2009, according to the New York State Association of Counties.

The bipartisan association distributed the information late last week based on a New York State Department of Taxation and Finance report released Jan. 13.

Chenango County’s preliminary numbers show the county ahead slightly from the third quarter of last year, but Chenango County Treasurer William E. Evans declined to comment on the results.

“I can’t speak to it until I receive my detailed report,” he said.

Either way, Chenango County appears to be in much better shape in terms of collections than other counties in New York. The latest sales tax numbers out of Albany last week indicated that 52 of the state’s 57 counties are seeing continued decline in sales tax receipts - 13 of them are seeing double digit decreases over the same period last year.