Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our budget review was to determine whether the significant revenue and expenditure projections in the City’s proposed budget for the 2015 fiscal year are reasonable.

Background

The City of Newburgh, located in Orange County, issued debt totaling $15 million to liquidate the accumulated deficit in the City’s general fund as of December 31, 2010. Local Finance Law requires all local governments that have been authorized to issue obligations to fund operating deficits to submit their tentative budgets for the next fiscal year to the State Comptroller for review while the deficit obligations are outstanding.

Key Findings

Based on the results of our review, except for certain matters, we found that the significant revenue and expenditure projections in the proposed budget are reasonable.

• The proposed budget does not include an amount to cover the City’s required contribution toward costs for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant program.
• The City continues to budget minimal amounts for contingencies, which provided the City with minimal flexibility to address revenue shortfalls or unforeseen expenditures.
• The City has not made an allowance for uncollectible taxes in the 2015 proposed budget.
• The City’s proposed budget complies with the tax levy limit.

Key Recommendations

• Include an appropriation to cover the City’s required contribution for the COPS program.
• Review the adequacy of contingency appropriations.
• Consider including an appropriation for uncollectible taxes or increasing the contingency appropriation to cover the amount of uncollectible taxes.