New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli
ALBANY—New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has released his annual report on municipal fiscal stress, which found a number of villages in the New York metro area, as well as the City of Yonkers in Westchester County, are in some form of significant stress.
The report based on the State Comptroller's “Fiscal Stress Monitoring System,” found that the City of Yonkers moved into the “moderate fiscal stress” category, up from “susceptible to fiscal stress” designation a year ago.
Earlier this month, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano postponed his planned “State of the City” address in order to focus his efforts on lobbying state lawmakers for additional state education aid to the city.
“Yonkers chronically has been underfunded by Albany for years and there must be a permanent, structural change to the state aid formula in order for Yonkers students to move forward,” said Mayor Spano. “Together we must advocate for our students, teachers and administration to ensure they are funded fairly and equitably. Our State Capitol has helped us fill budget gaps in the past, but the days of temporary 'band-aids' to fix our City budget must end.”
Yonkers Public Schools face a $60-million deficit this year, which could potentially lead to major cuts and layoffs, if additional state education funding is not forthcoming.
Two cities were put on the “Significant Stress” list—The City of Long Beach in Nassau County and the City of Amsterdam in upstate Montgomery County.
The next level of fiscal stress—“Moderate Stress—” in addition to Yonkers, also includes two other Nassau County municipalities— Island Park and Valley Stream, as well as the Village of Montgomery in Orange County.
Four upstate villages were tagged with the “Susceptible to Fiscal Stress” moniker—Catskill (Greene County), Canisteo (Steuben County), Fultonville (Montgomery County) and Sackets Harbor (Jefferson County).
“Our indicators show fiscal stress remains relatively low among New York's villages, while some cities continue to struggle,” said DiNapoli.
Other highlights from the 2018 fiscal stress report released on Thursday include:
• Five villages moved out of fiscal stress and three villages moved into a fiscal stress category;
• Catskill and Canisteo remain in the “susceptible to fiscal stress” category;
• Valley Stream remains in the “moderate fiscal stress” category; and
• A total of 51 villages and three cities failed to file the necessary and required annual financial reports and did not receive a score from the State Comptroller.
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John Jordan
John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.
