Comptroller releases 2023 fiscal stress reports

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — The New York State Comptroller’s Office categorizes local governments (outside of New York City) experiencing fiscal stress, with a new report released on October 3. Based on finances supplied by local governments, three categories—susceptible, moderate, or significant—represent whether they’ve balanced the budget.

For the Fiscal Stress Monitoring System, “fiscal stress” means that a local government can’t bring in enough money to cover its annual expenses. The system measures year-end balances, operating deficits, and cash position to determine which categories represent which municipalities.

The 2023 report—which you can read at the bottom of this story —shows that pandemic relief and tax revenues prevented many municipalities from experiencing financial distress. However, it notes that declining federal aid and slow growth in sales tax revenue present new challenges statewide.

2023 saw 1,316 total local governments submitting data, with 14 of those under one of the categories. That’s the same number reported by the comptroller in 2022, which the report counts as the fewest since the Fiscal Stress Monitoring System began in 2013.

“As Chair of the Assembly Local Governments Committee, I welcome the State Comptroller’s annual efforts in providing our local governments with a fiscal stress monitoring system,” said Assemblyember Fred Thiele, a Democrat representing District 1 on Long Island. “Each year, more than 97% of local governments receive a clean bill of fiscal health. For those designated, it is an opportunity to address potential fiscal issues before they reach crisis proportions.”

Of those 14, only six received a fiscal stress designation in both 2022 and 2023, the last two years. They are:

Albany, Chateaugay, Coxsackie, Poughkeepsie, and Yates also made the list in 2021. Eight more municipalities made the list in 2023, but not in 2022. They are:

“As a result of sound fiscal management at the local level and a constructive partnership with the state to limit the burden of unfunded mandates, counties remain in strong fiscal condition across the state,” said Benjamin Boykin II, president of the New York Association of Counties. “This report, coupled with audits and analyses provided by OSC, has been invaluable in providing counties and local governments with a roadmap of reforms and actions to reduce fiscal stress while protecting local services.”

Indeed, the comptroller’s office hasn’t sorted any county governments into one of the system’s categories in the past three years. And although most towns consistently show little or no stress, some municipalities have been categorized for multiple years. Albany and Poughkeepsie have been distressed each year since 2013, and the stress in Little Falls became “significant” in 2023.

The report notes that 264 local governments did not file financial data in time to the Fiscal Stress Monitoring System to be included in the 2023 report. That’s more than twice as much as in 2017.

Thirty-four percent of municipalities haven’t filed in time at least once since 2013, and 7.7% missed the deadline anywhere from four to six times. “What is most concerning are the 68 ‘persistent non-filers’ that have not filed in time for seven or more years,” the report reads. “Eleven municipalities—seven towns and four villages—have not received a score in any years.” They are:

1. Town of Baldwin
2. Town of Davenport
3. Village of Delhi
4. Town of Exeter
5. Town of Fremont
6. Town of Inlet

7. Town of Morehouse
8. Village of Mount Kisco
9. Town of New Hudson
10. Village of Owego
11. Village of Pulaski

The vast majority of municipalities—1,303 of them—made the deadline and received an “inconclusive” or “no designation” designation. This means that, from the comptroller’s perspective, those municipalities are not under financial hardship. “However, it is critical to recognize that the absence of a designation does not mean that the remaining municipalities are free from fiscal challenges,” said Barbara Van Epps, the Executive Director of the New York State Conference of Mayors. “Many are navigating financial pressures that may not be fully captured in the report or do not rise to the level of a stress designation.”

The Comptroller also tracks factors like population, poverty, tax base, or unemployment—environmental stressors local governments can’t directly control—that can increase economic burdens on municipalities. In 2023, it identified 137 local governments under environmental stress, representing an almost 45% drop from 2022.

“The decrease in FYE 2023 stress levels was largely due to significant increases in median home values for many municipalities across the State and, to a lesser degree, a drop in unemployment rates,” reads page 11 of the report.

Read the report here:

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