Local Government Publications

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.

Deficiency notes may be issued during a fiscal year to finance a deficiency in any fund or funds arising from revenues being less than the amount estimated in the budget for that fiscal year. The deficiency notes may not exceed five percent of the amount of that same year’s annual budget.

Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2011 amended Article 23 of the Tax Law to, among other things, exempt public schools and BOCES in the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD)1 from the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax, effective April 1, 2012. In addition, the payroll threshold and payroll tax rates have been adjusted for all other local government employers within the MCTD.

Local sales tax collections grew by $650 million, or 5 percent, from 2010 to 2011, compared to a growth rate of 9.9 percent between 2009 and 2010. However, nearly a third of the 2010 growth was attributable to a sales tax rate increase in New York City. Without this, growth would have been about 7 percent. | [read county-by-county report - pdf]

Chapter 97 of the Laws of 2011 established a property tax levy limit (generally referred to as the tax cap) that restricts the amount of property taxes local governments (including counties, cities, towns, villages, fire districts, and special districts) and school districts can levy. Under this legislation, the property tax levy for affected local governments and school districts cannot increase more than 2 percent, or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower, with some exceptions. Local governments and school districts are permitted to override the levy limit if certain actions are taken. The law is effective for fiscal years that begin in 2012.
Updated January 2012 (Originally Issued December 2011)

Local Finance Law requires the State Comptroller to report on private bond sales conducted by local government entities from the effective date of the Act through June 30, 2011. Because these private sales may be economically beneficial to local governments, OSC recommends that the expiration provision on the statutory private sale cap of $5 million be repealed.

This report highlights the new fiscal realities facing local governments and school districts as they work to comply with the new property tax cap while grappling with the lingering effects of the recent recession. In addition, the report addresses recent audits and summarizes many of the services and activities provided by our Division of Local Government and School Accountability.

New York State’s population increased by 2.1 percent between 2000 and 2010 – the fifth slowest rate of growth among all states nationwide. Gains or losses in population cause a shift in the local tax base, drive adjustments in State and federal revenue allocations, and influence the demand for municipal services and infrastructure.

Along with technological advances comes the responsibility to protect confidential information adequately so that it cannot be accessed by unauthorized individuals. Failure to do so can come at a considerable financial cost.

New York’s 57 counties (excluding New York City), 61 cities, 932 towns, and 556 villages reported spending nearly $2.6 billion to maintain 187,000 highway lane miles in 2009. Highway maintenance is one of the largest categories of expense for local governments, representing 7.6 percent of total local government expenditures.

Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) are public benefit corporations created by an act of the State Legislature on behalf of one or more local governments. IDAs are intended to advance the job opportunities, health, general prosperity and economic welfare of the people of the State of New York, and to improve their recreation opportunities, prosperity and standard of living.

Real property tax assessment is an important function of local governments. In 2009, New York’s city, county, town and village assessing units spent nearly $132 million and employed roughly 1,350 certified assessors, tax directors and assessment appraisers.

The purpose of this bulletin is to explain the new GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) reporting requirements for fund balance and special revenue funds, and the effects these reporting requirements will have on the Annual Update Document (AUD) filed by municipalities and the ST-3 filed by school districts.
Updated April 2011 (Originally Issued November 2010)

New York’s counties, cities, towns, and villages frequently utilize local development corporations (LDCs) and other private entities for economic development and other activities. These LDCs and similar private entities are exempt from many of the constitutional and statutory provisions that guide the operations and financial transactions conducted by local governments, increasing the risk of waste, fraud, or abuse of taxpayer dollars or assets.

This report describes the fiscal challenges facing school districts in New York State. As with other classes of government, school districts have struggled to maintain fiscal balance in the midst of rising costs and declining economic conditions. |  [Regional Profiles]

The 2011-12 Executive Budget proposes a $1.5 billion net cut in State aid to schools, which would result in a 7.3 percent decrease in aid to districts statewide, translating to a 2.9 percent reduction to total general fund budgets. | [read District by District report - pdf]

Local sales tax collections grew by 9.9 percent in 2010 compared to 2009, when sales tax collections declined by 6.0 percent. However, nearly a third of this growth was due to a sales tax rate increase in New York City.

Effective August 13, 2010, Chapter 386 of the Laws of New York amended Section 63.00 of the Local Finance Law to increase the cap on bonds issued through private sales from $1 million to $5 million (this provision sunsets on June 1, 2012, at which time the cap will revert to $1 million absent action by the State Legislature).

With some basic knowledge about what budgets contain, why they are important, and how they are presented, every citizen of every local community in New York State should be able to decipher the budget document.

Local sales tax collections, including New York City’s, increased by 10.5 percent during the first three quarters of 2010, compared to a 9.0 percent decline in the same period the year before. However, over a third of this growth is due to sales tax rate increases and the extension of the sales tax to additional items in New York City and Nassau County. Adjusting for these tax increases, the growth in sales tax collections to date in 2010 has been about 6 percent.