Local Government Publications

This report highlights the many services that are available to local officials through our Division of Local Government and School Accountability, including audits, training and research.

The City of Rochester projects large and growing budget gaps in its 2013-14 through 2017-18 fiscal years. Absent significant spending cuts or increasing revenues, the gaps could cause the City to exhaust its available fund balance within the next two fiscal years.

The City of Syracuse faces many of the same challenges as other upstate cities. However, a larger than average percentage of its property tax base is either exempt or delinquent and growing fixed costs in the budgets of the City and the dependent school district have created chronic budget gaps.

By several measures, Yonkers is better off than many other cities in the State. Despite these advantages, the City has been challenged by significant structural budget gaps and, by the end of its 2011 fiscal year, the City had essentially depleted its general fund reserves.

Sluggish growth in sales tax revenues adds additional pressure to already strained county budgets and to the budgets of other local governments that receive sales tax revenues through sharing agreements. | [read county-by-county data - pdf]

Gloversville faces significant fiscal challenges as it has nearly exhausted its constitutional taxing limit, severely limiting its flexibility to address unforeseen expenses and make ongoing infrastructure investments.

The temporary unlimited insurance coverage for noninterest-bearing transaction accounts provided under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act expired on December 31, 2012. Therefore, after December 31, 2012, deposits held in noninterest-bearing transaction accounts are aggregated with other demand accounts (e.g., “traditional” noninterest-bearing checking accounts) and will be insured by the FDIC only up to the $250,000 limit per custodian per insured bank. Deposits that exceed the $250,000 FDIC coverage must be secured in accordance with statutory requirements.

Utica has been in fiscal decline in recent years, relying on non-recurring revenues to fill budget gaps. Its new mayor has vowed to work with the City Council and OSC to ensure that the City remains in control of its own financial future.

From 2001 to 2011, total federal and state aid combined, grew at an average rate of 2.2 percent annually, slower than the rate of inflation (2.4 percent).

Local governments’ infrastructure needs are substantial and growing, while their ability to maintain their investments in capital programs is increasingly constrained. State policy changes could help reverse this trend..

Salamanca unexpectedly lost revenues from the Seneca Allegany Casino due to a dispute between the Seneca Nation and New York State over exclusive gaming rights. Although Salamanca aggressively responded to this revenue crisis, the City could run out of cash before the fiscal year ends on March 31, 2013.

Just as Niagara Falls seemed to be making headway in its financial struggles, a dispute between the Seneca Nation and the State of New York has resulted in the City losing as much as $60 million in revenue. The City’s 2013 executive budget proposal called for significant layoffs, program cutbacks, and property tax increases.

Chapter 128 of the Laws of 2012 amended sections 10 and 11 of the General Municipal Law (GML) to authorize local governments to use “reciprocal deposit” programs for their deposits and investments. The purpose of the amendment is to provide an additional option to local governments for obtaining coverage from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to secure their public deposits and investments.

This bulletin provides updated information on the definition of the financial reporting entity, superseding an earlier bulletin on this topic issued by the Office of the State Comptroller for local governments in New York State. All applicable previous guidance has been incorporated into this bulletin.
Updated October 2012 (Originally Issued July 2012)

This report seeks to inform that debate by examining the economic and fiscal histories of these other cities between 1980 and 2010, a period characterized by divergent trends for different groups of cities in the Empire State.

This report describes the fiscal oversight OSC provides to local governments faced with the serious fiscal challenges of budgeting with fewer resources to fund rising expenditures, all while staying within the recently enacted property tax cap.

School districts can use EBALR moneys to make cash payments to employees for accrued leave time due to them when they leave school district employment. OSC certified the excess EBALR funds that school districts had reserved, but could not legally use, so district officials could put these moneys to productive use to pay for operating costs.

In 2010, the 114 active IDAs located throughout the State supported 4,444 projects and provided total tax exemptions of nearly $1.3 billion.

This report briefly describes that the average allowable levy growth is 3 percent, rather than the 2 percent voters may be expecting.
All tax cap elements, as reported by school districts to the Office of the State Comptroller, are provided in the accompanying tables. Tax Cap Elements by County [xls] | Tax Cap Elements by Region [xls] | Tax Cap Elements by School [xls]

This report briefly describes the impact of the housing market crisis on New York State. The report also highlights the results of a survey by OSC on whether local officials are utilizing the 2009 law requiring foreclosing lenders to maintain vacant or abandoned properties.