NORWICH – Sales tax collections in Chenango County ticked down .04 percent after the first three months of 2010, remaining relatively flat or about $176,000 less than during the same period in 2009.

Chenango County Treasurer William B. Evans said the results weren’t as even as they were proving after the first two months of this year, but the county’s municipalities that rely on the distribution most likely would not be impacted.

“It’s a volatile situation ... but not 6 or 8 percent, either,” he told members of the Chenango County Finance Committee last week.

The nation’s economic slump hit home last year when the county’s sales tax collections dropped 6.6 percent from 2008 to 2009.