MALONE — A new national law designates Franklin, Clinton and St. Lawrence counties as High-Intensity Drug-Trafficking Areas, making them eligible for extra federal funding.

The counties join a network of 17 other sites in New York and New Jersey that coordinate their drug-related criminal investigations and intelligence gathering with federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies.

The federal government will now finance the operation of the Franklin County Border/Narcotics Task Force.

Based on what similar counties received, the initial outlay could amount to at least $75,000 a year, said Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne.

“We used to pay for all of this with forfeiture money, but there was a county expense associated with it.

“With the federal funds, that burden to the local taxpayer to pay for the task force has been alleviated.

“This has been a huge problem for all of the states on the border geographically, where the counties and states have been feeling the tax burden for (combating smuggling) instead of the federal government,” Champagne said.

“This is an awesome service regarding the shift in that responsibility onto the federal government, where it belongs.”

The measure was introduced in October and sponsored in the House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. John McHugh (R-Pierrepont Manor) and in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and former U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and approved by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Jefferson County was also proposed as a High-Intensity Drug-Trafficking Area, but it was not included in Thursday’s announcement.

“This has been a long, tough fight, but I am so glad we have finally gotten this application approved,” Schumer said Thursday in a news release.

“We can already see the benefits of having this tough, effective, statewide crime-fighting network in place.”

He vowed to continue pursuing the designation for Jefferson County.

McHugh said he is grateful for the designation because “cross-border drug trafficking poses a significant threat to our nation. This is one of the best and most immediate things we can do to effectively meet that threat.

“Our local leaders and law enforcement are doing tremendous work but need the additional federal resources this designation will provide to fully address this situation.”