Purpose of Audit

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

Background

The Town of Deerpark, located in Orange County, issued debt totaling $868,000 to liquidate the accumulated deficit in the Town’s general and highway funds as of December 31, 2008. Local Finance Law requires all local governments that have been authorized to issue obligations to fund operating deficits to submit their preliminary 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 revenue and expenditure projections in the proposed budget are reasonable.
• The amount of appropriated fund balance in the general and highway fund budgets represent 14 and 15 percent, respectively, of the total appropriations. Fund balance is a nonrecurring revenue source.
• The Town’s preliminary budget complies with the property tax levy limit.

Key Recommendation

• Be cautious about continuing to rely on fund balance to fund such a significant part of the budgeted appropriations