The latest round of scores was based on 2017 financial information provided to DiNapoli's office by local governments as of Sept. 5, 2018 and includes only municipalities with fiscal years ending on Dec. 31, 2017. In New York, all counties and towns, 44 cities and 10 villages have a calendar-based fiscal year – a total of 1,043 communities.

Six communities have been listed in the second-highest category of “moderate fiscal stress.” This includes: Franklin and Rockland counties and the cities of Albany and Plattsburgh.

An additional nine municipalities were listed as “susceptible to fiscal stress.” These are: the counties of Broome, Clinton, Erie and Onondaga; the city of Fulton; and the towns of Clarkstown, Covert, Dayton and Elmira.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said in response to the State Comptroller putting the county on the “significant fiscal stress” list, “It has been apparent to objective observers that Westchester County is facing serious fiscal problems due to recent past fiscal policies; the Comptroller's fiscal stress report points out in brief what we expect will be spelled out in greater detail when the results of their five-year audit (2013-2017) of Westchester County is released.”

Latimer in a prepared statement clearly put the blame on the former administration of Robert Astorino for the county's current fiscal woes. “For almost a decade, the prior leadership used the reserve fund, one-shot revenues and drastic staff reductions to deliver on an ideological commitment rather than prudently developing a steady stream of revenue,” he says. “It is unsustainable to have an unrealistic revenue policy—as the Comptroller's report now points out. This problem didn't happen overnight, and it isn't going to be fixed overnight.”