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NEWS from the Office of the New York State Comptroller
Contact: Press Office 518-474-4015

DiNapoli Issues Fiscal Stress Scores For Upstate Cities

Monitoring System Has Evaluated Nearly 2,300 Local Governments

May 2, 2014

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced fiscal stress rankings for several upstate cities. With today’s announcement, DiNapoli’s office has completed the initial scoring for all local governments and school districts in New York.

“Since implementing the system last year, we have evaluated the fiscal condition of nearly 2,300 municipalities and school districts across the state,” said DiNapoli. “This information has been well received by local officials and taxpayers and it’s clear that we have created a tool that has helped them better understand their community’s true financial picture. But our work is not done. The value in our system will be borne out over time as it helps guide local budgeting decisions and the development of long-term financial plans.”

The creation of the ‘early warning’ monitoring system is the centerpiece of the Comptroller’s fiscal stress initiative. The Fiscal Stress Monitoring System is based on financial information provided to DiNapoli’s office by local communities and uses financial indicators that include year-end fund balance, cash position and patterns of operating deficits, to create an overall fiscal stress score.

To date, DiNapoli’s monitoring system has identified a total of 142 municipalities in some level of fiscal stress. This includes 16 counties, 18 towns, five cities, 16 villages and 87 school districts.

The system uses a 100 point scale to classify whether a municipality is in significant fiscal stress (65-100%), in moderate fiscal stress (55-65%), is susceptible to fiscal stress (45-55%), or no designation (below 45%).

The fiscal stress scores for 15 cities and villages with fiscal year ends that range from March 31 to July 31 announced today includes cities such as Batavia (0%), Buffalo (15.8%), Corning (15.8%), Olean (11.7%), Rochester (20.4%), Syracuse (34.2%) and Watertown (9.6%). These municipalities were each classified in the no designation category.

To search for a specific local government’s fiscal stress scores, visit:
http://wwe1.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/fiscalmonitoring/fsi1a.cfm

For an overview of Comptroller DiNapoli’s Fiscal Monitoring System, visit:
http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/fiscalmonitoring/index.htm