Local Government Publications

State law requires that all deposits and investments with banks or trust companies (e.g., checking accounts, time deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, etc.) in excess of FDIC coverage be properly secured.

This report examines some of the various options proposed to reduce local property tax growth.

Sales taxes are an important source of revenue for New York State's local governments. This revenue stream has helped local governments cope with the rising cost of providing services and mitigate property tax increases. Sales tax revenues now exceed the real property tax as the largest revenue source for counties.

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide LOSAP sponsors model notes that should be included with their annual financial reports. These notes will provide increased disclosure about the financial condition and operations of LOSAP’s. Revised August 2008 (Originally Issued January 2008)

Model Notes:
Defined Benefit Plans [pdf]
Defined Contribution Plans [pdf]

Since the cost of electricity represents a considerable burden to local governments and their taxpayers, this report focuses on initiatives that reduce electric bills and the consumption of electricity overall, as well as the consumption of electricity generated through traditional methods.

This guide is designed to assist local governments and school districts contain certain personal service costs. It is broken down into the following sections: • Containing Health Insurance Costs • Minimizing Unemployment Insurance Costs • Managing Workers’ Compensation Costs • Overtime Planning and Management
The suggestions in this guide are ideas for you to consider and possibly utilize in the management of your operations and in the development of your annual budget. You will need to tailor these cost savings opportunities to fit the requirements and needs of your local government or school district.

As previous reports by the Office of the State Comptroller have pointed out, the terms city, town and village have more to do with history than they do with presentday governmental function.2 This report looks at urban villages as one type of municipal government that has been impacted by these historic designations.

This report provides an overview of financial and employment trends of the 116 active Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) in New York State.

New Yorkers spend tens of billions of dollars on education each year. After three years of auditing how school districts manage their finances, we have seen dramatic progress. In 2007, OSC issued 257 audits of schools. As part of our audit effort, we highlight the best practices of the school districts that are well managed so that others around the state can learn from them. For those needing more assistance, our audits also offer practical recommendations to help schools operate more effectively and efficiently. For instance, we continue to find problems with how schools are designing their controls for information technology and what employees are being paid when they leave.

This report outlines major local government fiscal trends and highlights recent policy developments that affect their financial health. It also summarizes the services and activities of the Division of Local Government and School Accountability, where staff in Albany and eight regional offices across the State are committed to promoting taxpayers’ interests by helping to improve the fiscal management of local governments and schools within New York.

New York State and its local governments maintain an extensive infrastructure critical to the economy, including roads, bridges, educational facilities, water and sewer systems and medical facilities. Most of this capital investment is financed through the issuance of long term debt. Investment in such infrastructure maintains and improves the vitality and economic well being of our communities. However, when governments rely excessively on debt, especially to pay for current operating costs, the long term costs of supporting the debt will impact current as well as future operating budgets by limiting financial flexibility and the ability to finance essential capital projects in the future.

This report provides an overview of their finances, including data for School Districts fiscal years ending in 2004 and 2005.

This report provides an overview of their finances, including data for Fire Districts fiscal years ending in 2004 and 2005.

This report provides an overview of their finances, including data for Villages fiscal years ending in 2004 and 2005.

This report provides an overview of their finances, including data for county fiscal years ending in 2004 and 2005.

This report provides an overview of their finances, including data for city fiscal years ending in 2004 and 2005.

Under legislation passed in 2005, which established a cap on local Medicaid costs, counties needed to decide by September 2007 to either keep the Medicaid cap or exchange a percentage of their sales tax revenues.

Why didn’t you see it? There was fraud and you missed it. Conducting a “should of” after a fraud happens may show that red flags were present. If you had only recognized the warning signs, then that loss may not have occurred or been substantially reduced. Based on a recent survey by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), occupational fraud substantially increases organizational costs. It is a myth that fraud is a big scheme that should have been uncovered sooner and easy to detect. Fraud starts small and just gets bigger and bigger, until something becomes noticeably different or unusual.

This report provides an overview of their finances, including data for Towns fiscal years ending in 2004 and 2005.

GASB Statement No. 49, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pollution Remediation Obligations. This statement explains when a government would be required to report a liability in its financial statements related to cleaning up pollution or contamination. The statement also establishes a probability weighted method that a government would be required to use to determine the estimated amount of pollution obligation liabilities that would be reported in its financial statements.