Fourteen New York local governments have been designated as "some level of fiscal stress," according to a new report from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office. The state capital of Albany is one of them.
The report, recapping fiscal year 2023 in the state, shows that under the Fiscal Stress Monitoring System, 14 governments in fiscal stress is unchanged from fiscal 2022, and remains the lowest number the state have seen since the Fiscal Stress Monitoring System was introduced for fiscal 2013.
Of the local governments in fiscal stress, DiNapoli's office indicates:
- Municipalities susceptible to financial stress — Philipstown (Putnam County); Poughkeepsie (Dutchess County); Schroeppel (Oswego County), Sackets Harbor (Jefferson County), Chateaugay (Franklin County), South Dayton (Cattaraugus County), Whitehall (Washington County)
- Municipalities in moderate financial stress — Yates (Orleans County); Albany; Bennington (Wyoming County); West Turin (Lewis County), Coxsackie (Greene County)
- Municipalities in significant financial stress — Little Falls (Herkimer County), Saugerties (Ulster County)
Of those towns and cities, five — Albany, Poughkeepsie, Chateaugay, Coxsackie and Yates — have been in a fiscal stress category for at least the last three years, according to the report. Poughkeepsie has been categorized in fiscal stress for every year of the monitoring system.
This doesn't take into account the local governments that didn't file annual financial reports in time to be scored by the monitoring system. That number has steadily risen, according to DiNapoli's office, from 122 local governments in fiscal 2017 to 264 in fiscal 2023.
"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 report reads. "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."
The monitoring system evaluates local governments' financial indicators, "including year-end fund balance, operating deficits, cash-on-hand, short-term borrowing, fixed costs and other factors," per the report, and provides fiscal stress scores twice yearly.
On the positive side, no reporting counties were designated as being in financial stress for fiscal 2023, with the number of New York cities with such a designation dropping from 11.1% in 2022 to 6.8% in 2023.