Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our budget review was to determine whether the significant revenue and expenditure projections in the Town’s tentative budget for the 2014 fiscal year are reasonable.

Background

The Town of Stony Point, located in Rockland County, issued debt totaling $1,500,000 to liquidate the accumulated deficit in the Town’s general, highway and enterprise funds as of December 31, 2003. 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, we found that the significant revenue and expenditure projections in the tentative budget are reasonable.
• The 2014 budget includes estimated revenues of $1.5 million in the general fund from the sale of Town property. Revenue from the sale of property is non-recurring (one-shot) revenue that will be received in one year, but will not necessarily recur in the following year.
• The Town’s tentative budget complies with the tax levy limit.

Key Recommendation

• Do not use non-recurring revenues to fund recurring operating expenditures, but rather to reduce debt or to fund non-recurring expenditures, such as the purchase of equipment or construction of capital assets.