Chemung County Ag Society outlines fiscal reforms, barn upgrades and five-day fair plan

Kevin Adams, president of the Chemung County Agricultural Society, told the Chemung County Legislature that the fair organization has adopted new bylaws, tightened financial controls and undertaken multiple fairground repair projects as it prepares to run a five‑day fair from Tuesday, July 29, through Saturday, Aug. 2.

Adams said the society began 2024 with roughly $47,000 in assets and more than $54,000 in liabilities, including about $40,000 on a line of credit and a roughly $14,000 workers’ compensation bill. He said the board has reduced the workers’ compensation liability to $1,800 and cleared much of the outstanding credit‑card debt while introducing named fiscal rules, a bookkeeping contract and a separation of treasurer and bookkeeper duties. “It was a hell of a hole we had to climb out of,” Adams said.

The nut of the presentation was that the Ag Society is moving from informal, largely cash operations to formalized, auditable practices. Adams and presenter Mark Watts described new bylaws adopted March 11, 2025, a whistleblower policy, procurement and petty‑cash policies, a payroll system, cashless point‑of‑sale via Square, and the hiring of a bookkeeper, Cindy Mastrantonio, to manage daily financial operations while the treasurer focuses on policy enforcement.

Those governance changes were framed as prerequisites for winning and properly spending public and private support. Adams thanked the county for distributing American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds and some room‑tax dollars to the fair and said the Ag Society has secured a state grant stream used for agricultural programming and track improvements. He said a state grant category the society has used is available only to the Ag Society and that the board expects roughly $96,000 from a state grant cycle this year.

Adams and Watts listed completed and planned capital work funded by grants, ARP dollars and in‑kind labor. Recent projects included repairing manure pits and a horse ring, adding rock and drainage at Gate 1 to improve infield parking access, rebuilding an old building to sell beer and host vendors, installing a solar light at Gate 5 (a $7,500 grant), and regrading and widening the harness track to the required width for harness racing. The dairy barn is under renovation with concrete scheduled to be poured by July 18, Adams said.

The presenters described a mix of volunteer labor and contracted work. They said some tasks previously done informally—such as stall cleaning by teens paid in cash—have been converted to proper contractor relationships that meet IRS definitions and are covered by payroll and workers’ compensation. Adams…