This bulletin provides guidance on amendments to General Municipal Law (GML) Section 209-b, which authorizes authorities having control of fire departments and fire companies (i.e. cities, villages, towns or fire districts) that provide emergency and general ambulance services (services) to charge fees for certain emergency and ambulance services. This bulletin includes accounting guidance as well as general internal controls and best practices that should be considered when implementing billing for these services in accordance with the amended law.

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide accounting and financial reporting guidance for subscription-based information technology arrangements (SBITAs) and illustrate how local governments and school districts will need to account for and report these SBITAs in the Annual Financial Report (AFR) and the ST-3. | Reasonably Certain Template [.xlsx]

This bulletin provides accounting guidance related to direct payments of opioid settlement funds from the New York State Attorney General's Office to county and city governments. Note that this bulletin does not apply to money received by local governments and school districts from the State Opioid Fund, which will be covered in separate accounting guidance on that topic.

This bulletin provides guidance related to the accounting for moneys received by a county, city, town, or village from the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA). These revenues are derived from a 4 percent local excise tax on the sale of adult–use cannabis products by a retail dispensary to a cannabis consumer.

This bulletin provides accounting and financial reporting guidance related to those contracts that meet the definition of a lease, and illustrates how local governments and school districts will need to account and report these leases in their annual update document (AUD) and the ST-3.
Updated December 2022 (Originally Issued August 2022)

Read the frequently asked questions and answers document on GASB Statement 84. A useful tool for both local government and school district officials. | Accounting and Financial Reporting for Fiduciary Activities as Required by GASB Statement 84
Updated September 2021 (Originally Issued June 2021)

This guidance document expands upon the importance of proper fiscal oversight, as discussed in our July 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act Information bulletin. It also identifies the main source of revenues available under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act to local governments and school districts in NYS.

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide accounting guidance to counties for Medicaid-related intergovernmental transfers (IGTs). Medicaid-related IGTs are funds that are transferred from counties that own or operate health-related facilities (e.g. hospitals, nursing homes, mental health clinics, etc.) to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH). These funds, along with the funds provided by the federal government, are used to fund the Medicaid payments made by the NYSDOH directly to the counties.

This bulletin explains the reporting requirements for advance refunding bonds. Many school districts are issuing advance refunding bonds this year because the state is changing how it calculates and pays building aid. Building aid, rather than being based on actual debt service payments, will now be based on an "assumed amortization calculation" that assumes that districts borrow money for the maximum period of probable usefulness allowed by Local Finance Law section 11.00 and pays an assumed interest rate.

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform local government and school district officials of the upcoming new requirements regarding the classification of leases for accounting and reporting purposes, as required by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 87, Leases (Statement 87). This bulletin explains the GASB’s new definition of a lease (including outlining the types of leases that are excluded by this new standard) and an explanation of what a lease term is per Statement 87.