State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s announced 20 local governments in New York ended 2021 in some form of fiscal stress, down from 30 a year prior. Cortland was recently added to that list as potentially susceptible to financial stress.
DiNapoli’s office releases fiscal stress scores for municipalities twice a year for local governments operating on a calendar year basis for 2021.
“The infusion of aid from the federal government and robust local sales tax revenues helped to put local governments on solid fiscal ground in 2021. Still, municipalities shouldn’t assume this will last. Inflation remains a major concern and sales tax growth is slowing in many areas”, DiNapoli says.
DiNapoli’s Fiscal Stress Monitoring System informs the public about local government’s fiscal health through financial indicators including year-end fund balance, patterns of operating deficits and short-term borrowing.
The system will also evaluate information on population trends, and poverty and unemployment rates, which can then be used to describe the context in how the local governments operate.
