New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli releases local government "fiscal stress" reports

[Click on the text highlighted in color to access the data posted on the Internet.]

New York State municipalities continued to benefit from federal aid and rising sales tax revenues in 2023.

A total of 14 local governments in New York state ended their fiscal year 2023 with a fiscal stress designation, the same as a year ago, according to a report released on a report released  October 3, 2024 by New York State's Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. These designations were based on the State Comptroller’s Fiscal Stress Monitoring System (FSMS) scores, including eight that were released on October 3, 2024.

“The number of local governments designated in fiscal stress fell to historically low levels over the past two years,” DiNapoli said. “At the same time, an increasing number of municipalities have failed to file required financial data with my office, diminishing the transparency and accountability that residents expect and deserve. An inability to file timely financial reports may be an indicator of larger fiscal problems, and closer scrutiny of these localities may be needed.”

DiNapoli launched FSMS in 2013 to evaluate local governments’ financial indicators, including year-end fund balance, operating deficits, cash-on-hand, short-term borrowing, fixed costs and other factors. The system’s fiscal stress scores provide an early warning to local officials about fiscal issues and give the public insight into their communities’ financial health.

DiNapoli releases fiscal stress scores for municipalities excluding New York City twice a year. The scores announced today are for local governments operating on a calendar year basis for fiscal year 2023, covering all counties and towns, 44 cities and 13 villages. This round of scoring designated eight local governments in fiscal stress, including three cities and five towns. In March, DiNapoli announced that six local governments with non-calendar fiscal years were designated in stress. School districts are also scored in January.

For 2023, the City of Little Falls in Herkimer County and the Village of Saugerties in Ulster County (designated in March) were the only two in the highest-ranking designation of “significant stress.” The City of Albany (Albany), the Village of Coxsackie (Greene) and the towns of Bennington (Wyoming), West Turin (Lewis), and Yates (Orleans) were designated in “moderate stress,” the next highest ranking, followed by the villages of Sackets Harbor (Jefferson), Chateaugay (Franklin), South Dayton (Cattaraugus), and Whitehall (Washington), the towns of Philipstown (Putnam) and Schroeppel (Oswego), and the City of Poughkeepsie (Dutchess), which were designated as “susceptible to fiscal stress.”

Along with the scores released today, DiNapoli released a report summarizing local fiscal year end 2023 fiscal stress scoring results for calendar year and non-calendar year municipalities, including designations by class and issues of concern, among other things.

Among the report’s findings:

A total of six local governments were in a stress category in both fiscal years 2022 and 2023, including the cities of Albany, Little Falls, and Poughkeepsie.

Additionally, five local governments (the cities of Albany and Poughkeepsie, the villages of Chateaugay and Coxsackie, and the Town of Yates) have been designated in a fiscal stress category for at least the last three years. Poughkeepsie has received a fiscal stress designation every year since FSMS began.

As was the case for the past two years, none of the reporting counties were designated in any fiscal stress category in fiscal year 2023. While the number of towns designated in stress grew slightly, less than 1% were designated.

The number of cities in stress designations decreased in fiscal year 2023 compared to 2022. For cities, 6.8% were designated in some level of stress, down from 11.1% in 2022.

Just 1.4% of villages were designated in stress, slightly up from 1.1% in 2022.

DiNapoli’s report found that the number of local governments failing to file their annual financial reports in time to receive a fiscal stress score has risen over the past several years. In fiscal year 2017, 122 local governments did not file in time to receive a score. By fiscal year 2022, 209 did not file in time to receive a score and by 2023, the number had grown to 264.

When a municipality doesn’t file, it leaves local officials and taxpayers in the dark about possible fiscal problems and may indicate a lack of proper financial management. The Comptroller’s monitoring system identifies potential problems for local communities so they can take corrective action to avoid future financial troubles. DiNapoli is undertaking targeted outreach and training to help local governments comply with the law and bring their financial reporting up to date.

     

Lists

Municipalities in Stress for Fiscal Year Ending 2023

Municipalities Who Did Not File or Designated Inconclusive

 

Excel Spreadsheet

Detailed List of All Municipalities in State and Fiscal Stress Scores

 

Report

Fiscal Stress Monitoring System Municipalities: Fiscal Year 2023 Results

 

Online Interactive Visualization

Fiscal Stress Monitoring System Statistics

 

 

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli releases local government and school audits.

On September 30, 2024, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli issued the following local government and school audits.

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County of Putnam – Recreation and Golf Course Collections The county’s parks and recreation department and golf course did not always record, deposit, remit documentation and report collections accurately and in a timely manner. As a result, officials do not have assurance that all collections at the golf course were properly accounted for and deposited. Officials did not maintain records supporting the department’s fiscal year 2022 collections. As a result, neither auditors nor county officials could determine whether all collections were recorded, deposited or remitted. For the 2023 fiscal year, 30% of the golf course deposits reviewed were inaccurate. The deposits contained variances totaling $6,180. Auditors also determined 97% percent of the daily golf course settlement reports reviewed were inaccurate. 

Town of Evans – Employee Benefits (Erie County) The town’s leave records and separation payments were generally not accurate, supported and/or approved. Opt-out payments were generally accurate; however, they were not properly supported or approved. Auditors reviewed leave records for 27 of the town’s 80 employees and determined that 373.5 of the 6,077 hours of leave time used by these employees were recorded incorrectly or not at all in the payroll system. Auditors also determined that four separation payments totaling $11,282 were inaccurate or unsupported and that the former town supervisor received four unsupported opt-out payments totaling $6,000. Officials were unable to explain why the former supervisor was treated differently than other board members. These errors and discrepancies occurred and were not detected or corrected due to a variety of factors including a decentralized process for maintaining leave records and a lack of oversight of leave records, separation payments and opt-out payments.

Town of Pitcairn – Claims Auditing (St. Lawrence County) The board did not properly audit all claims prior to payment. Of 173 claims reviewed totaling $620,325, 96 claims totaling $207,884 had one or more exceptions, 46 claims totaling $38,138 were paid without evidence of an audit and 26 claims totaling $15,593 did not include adequate supporting documentation. This increased the risk that claims could have been paid for inappropriate purposes. Auditors also found 24 claims for diesel fuel totaling $66,516 and one paving claim totaling $99,691 were approved by the board without evidence that competition was sought. For example, a state diesel fuel contract could have saved the town about $3,000 on these purchases. Additionally, the board improperly donated $1,500 to a volunteer group and paid utility bills totaling $811 for a private organization.

West Babylon Union Free School District – Claims Audit (Suffolk County) The claims auditor did not perform a proper audit of claims. As a result, there is an increased risk that goods and services may not have been received, and incorrect or inappropriate claims could be paid. Auditors reviewed 86 claims totaling $10 million and determined that 73 claims totaling $9.8 million had one or more deficiencies, including confirming purchase orders that were issued after goods or services were received, rather than having being approved before good or services were acquired, and inadequate supporting documentation. Auditors also found 21 claims totaling $3.1 million were not audited prior to payment in accordance with state law. Additionally, the claims auditor did not report directly to the board, did not note exceptions on the warrant and did not include all exceptions on her monthly reports.

Town of Pendleton – Capital Projects (Niagara County) The board and supervisor did not ensure projects were properly planned or accounted for and did not monitor projects. As a result, the supervisor and board were unaware of total project costs, and the board could not effectively monitor the status of the projects or communicate the projects’ status to taxpayers. Specifically, the supervisor and board did not establish project scope, timelines, cost or funding sources for any of the town’s five projects or prepare detailed project budgets. The supervisor also did not account for the projects in separate capital projects funds.

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Recent Attendance and Leave Policy Bulletins posted on the Internet by the New York State Department of Civil Service

The New York State Department of Civil Service recently published the following Attendance and Leave Policy Bulletins:

• Policy Bulletin 2024-09 - Attendance and Leave Items ‐ 2023–2026 State‐NYSCOPBA ‐ Security Services Unit (SSU) Negotiated Agreement
• Policy Bulletin 2024-10 - Attendance and Leave Items ‐ 2023–2026 State‐PBANYS ‐ Agency Police Services Unit (APSU) Negotiated Agreement
• Policy Bulletin 2024-11 - Attendance and Leave Items ‐ 2023–2026 State‐Council 82 ‐ Security Supervisors Unit (SSpU) Negotiated Agreement

The text of Policy Bulletin 2024-09 will be found at:
https://www.cs.ny.gov/attendance_leave/PolBull24-09.cfm

If you wish to print Policy Bulletin 2024-09 a version in PDF format is posted on the Internet at: https://www.cs.ny.gov/attendance_leave/PB2024-09.pdf

The text of Policy Bulletin 2024-10 will be found at:
https://www.cs.ny.gov/attendance_leave/PolBull24-10.cfm

If you wish to print Policy Bulletin 2024-10 a version in PDF format is posted on the Internet at: https://www.cs.ny.gov/attendance_leave/PB2024-10.pdf

The text of Policy Bulletin 2024-11 will be found at:
https://www.cs.ny.gov/attendance_leave/PolBull24-11.cfm

If you wish to print Policy Bulletin 2024-11 a version in PDF format is posted on the Internet at: https://www.cs.ny.gov/attendance_leave/PB2024-11.pdf.

To view previous Policy Bulletins issued by the New York State Department of Civil Service posted on the Internet, visit:

 https://www.cs.ny.gov/ssd/Manuals/SPMM/