Nine villages were designated in fiscal stress under his office’s Fiscal Stress Monitoring System (FSMS) for their fiscal year ending in 2024. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office evaluated all non-calendar year local governments that filed their financial reports in time to be scored and designated three villages in “significant fiscal stress,” two in “moderate fiscal stress,” and four as “susceptible to fiscal stress.”
The Village of Island Park (Nassau County), the Village of Saugerties (Ulster County), and the Village of Cambridge (Washington County) were classified in “significant fiscal stress.” The two villages designated in “moderate fiscal stress” were: Coxsackie (Greene County) and Washingtonville (Orange County). The four villages classified as “susceptible to fiscal stress” were: Huntington Bay (Suffolk County), Kaser (Rockland County), Chateaugay (Franklin County,) and Liberty (Sullivan County).
“The number of local governments with a fiscal stress designation remains low following several years of emergency federal pandemic aid that helped stabilize their finances,” DiNapoli said. “With that aid coming to an end and uncertainty coming out of Washington on state and local funding cuts, local officials should closely monitor their financial condition so they can be prepared for any financial challenges that lie ahead. I encourage local governments to use our self-assessment tool to help them budget and avoid potential pitfalls.”
The latest round of fiscal scores is for local governments with fiscal years ending between Feb. 28 and July 31, 2024, including 518 villages, most of which have a fiscal year ending on May 31. The scores, which are based on self-reported data, also cover 17 cities with non-calendar fiscal years, including the “Big 4” cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers, each of which has fiscal years ending on June 30.
Growing Concerns About Local Governments Not Filing Required Financial Data
Local governments are statutorily required to file an Annual Financial Report (AFR) with the Office of the State Comptroller following the close of their fiscal year. In total, 108 local governments did not file their data in time to receive a FSMS score, a date that is at least three months past their statutory filing deadline. This represents approximately 20% of the local governments evaluated in this period. Over 482,000 New Yorkers reside in these municipalities.
DiNapoli’s office continues to remind local officials of both the statutory filing deadlines as well as the critical filing dates for receiving a fiscal stress score. His office recently launched a webpage that highlights the importance of the AFR and the concerning increase in the number of non-filers. The webpage includes a tool to check the filing status of any local government.
FSMS, which DiNapoli launched in 2012, assesses levels of fiscal stress in local governments using financial indicators including year-end fund balance, cash position, short-term cash-flow borrowing, and patterns of operating deficits. It generates overall fiscal stress scores, which ultimately determine designations. The system also analyzes separate environmental indicators to help provide insight into the health of local economies and other challenges that might affect a local government’s or school district’s finances. This information includes population trends, poverty, and unemployment.
DiNapoli’s office has a self-assessment tool that allows local officials to calculate fiscal stress scores based on current and future financial assumptions. Officials can use this tool to assist in budget planning, which is especially helpful during periods of revenue and expenditure fluctuations.
In January, DiNapoli released fiscal stress scores for school districts. In September, his office will release scores for municipalities with a calendar-year fiscal year, which includes counties, towns, most cities and a few villages.
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