CANTON — A tight budget forecast has St. Lawrence County looking at all options, including tightly guarded revenues from the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino.

The county expects next year's share of the state's gaming compact with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe to be about $1 million. A legislative economic development committee recently recommended 13 projects to spend it on, but the suggestion quickly surfaced to use the funds to underwrite the budget that's projecting an 8 percent tax increase.

Casino funds are guarded by Empire State Development, which has to approve spending plans submitted by St. Lawrence and Franklin counties and the reservation-bordering towns of Massena, Brasher, Bombay and Fort Covington. State law says the funds can be used only for economic development projects and treatment of gambling addictions.

"If we say, 'Here's a million dollars, folks, put it in the budget,' it'll go back to New York state," said Legislature Vice Chairman Frederick S. Morrill, D-DeKalb. "Maybe not until next year, but once the attorney general looks at it, it'll be gone. I'm not just for sticking it in there and pretending like it's economic development."

Mr. Morrill co-chairs the economic development committee. Referencing state aid cuts, he warned legislators that playing loose with the rules could make the money vanish.

The county used $238,694 this year to underwrite economic development positions, meaning there is room to get the funds into the budget. Mr. Morrill softened his stance this week.

"If we can find something that is truly economic development and that also affects the operating budget, I'm all for it," he said.

Last year's payment was spent on various projects including a youth internship program, engineering studies at an industrial park and wetlands surveys on property owned by the county Industrial Development Agency.

The committee recommended spending money this year to underwrite the same economic development jobs, engineering work at the Gouverneur industrial park and purchase of buses for the county's state- and federal-subsidized transportation system.

The Legislature is not committed to following the recommendations, some of which already are on shaky ground. The committee recommended spending $200,000 on a project to expand the Massena International Airport runway, but federal funding that would cover the bulk of the cost is not committed.

Legislators will consider how to spend the money during the budget review season, which begins Wednesday. Pumping $1 million into the budget would cut the tax levy by 2.5 percent.

"If it got approved, then I don't have a problem with that," said Legislator Donald A. Peck, R-Gouverneur. "If you do that, you set a scary precedent when you start using it. What will you do the next year?"