CHENANGO COUNTY – Chenango County has been kept off a list of “fiscally stressed” local governments, according to a report from the Office of the New York State Comptroller.
This marks only the second year the state office has evaluated the financial stability of local governments. The final report – which was released last month – provides an early warning of fiscal stress in local governments and school districts by examining their financial information, and it gives feedback to local leaders.
“One of our precepts is we don't want to be on that list,” said Chenango County Treasurer Bill Craine at a meeting of the county’s Finance Committee last week.
According to the Comptroller’s report, Chenango County has actually improved from last year’s standing, lowering its fiscal score from 12.5 percent in 2013 to 3.3 percent in 2014. The lower the score, the better off a local government is, explained Craine.
Chenango’s current score puts it among the four least fiscally stressed counties in the state, along with Niagara (0 percent), Ontario (3.3 percent), and Tioga (3.3 percent).
Nearly all communities that have been deemed fiscally stressed have operating deficits, limited cash on hand, and a low fund balance which accounts for approximately 50 percent the weight of the score, Crain said.
“We're very fortunate to have an adequate fund balance,” he added. “There are 15 percent of the counties in the state that have some kind of stress ... We could easily be on that list too.”
The latest round of scores is based on 2013 financial information for all counties and towns in the state, along with 44 cities and 10 villages. Each entity is placed in one of three categories: significant stress, moderate stress, or susceptible to stress.
Scores are also determined using environmental considerations, including population, age, poverty level, property value, employment, sales tax revenue and revenue from other types of government. The Comptroller’s Office says these factors are used to provide context about the challenges of a local community.
Municipalities in the Souther Tier that didn’t fair so well in the Comptroller’s report include Otsego County (32.5 percent fiscal score), Broome County (54.6 percent), and Schuyler County (65.8 percent). Delaware County performed a little better at 22.5 percent, as did Chemung County (12.9 percent) and Steuben County (12.5 percent).
Finance Committee member Dennis Brown, Supervisor for the Town of Pharsalia, credited department leadership for Chenango’s ranking in the report, citing the challenges facing counties operating in the state’s current financial climate.
“It's easy to understand. If you're trying to operate a county these days with the atmosphere we're in, it's very difficult,” he said.
Since this is only the second year a fiscal stress monitoring system has been in place, the Comptroller’s Office says future assessments will allow local governments to better track stress conditions and trends to become more proactive and less reactive to their financial situation.
A complete list of municipalities and school districts in the Comptroller’s fiscal stress report can be found at wwe1.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/fiscalmonitoring/fsms.cfm.