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Village of Endicott -- Budget Review (B17-4-7)

Issued Date
April 14, 2017
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Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our budget review was to provide an independent evaluation of the Village's tentative budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year.

Background

The Village of Endicott is located in Broome County. Chapter 91 of the Laws of 2004 authorized the Village of Endicott (Village) to issue debt not to exceed $2 million to liquidate the accumulated deficit in the Villag's general fund as of May 31, 2004. New York State Local Finance Law Section 10.10 requires municipalities and school districts that have been authorized to issue obligations to fund operating deficits to submit to the State Comptroller each year, starting with the fiscal year during which the local government is authorized to issue obligations and for each subsequent fiscal year during which the deficit obligations are outstanding, their tentative budget for the next succeeding fiscal year.

Key Findings

  • Based on our review, the significant revenue and expenditure projections in the tentative budget for the general, electric and parking funds are reasonable.
  • The water and sewer funds' tentative budgets are not balanced and include a deficit of $200,000 in the water fund (5.4 percent of the fund's estimated revenues) and $215,863 in the sewer fund (6.1 percent of the fund's estimated revenues).
  • The Village took appropriate action to implement our recommendation in last year's budget review by adjusting the rate structure in the water and sewer funds. Therefore, those funds are not projected to incur deficits for the current fiscal year.
  • The Village's tentative budget included a tax levy of $8,586,051, which exceeds the Village's tax levy limit by $470,040.

Key Recommendations

  • We recommend the Board address water and sewer rate changes and balance the budget before adoption to avoid budgeting appropriations without sufficient financing sources.
  • We recommend the Board take necessary actions, such as decreasing expenditure estimates or passing an override local law, to avoid adopting a budget that is not in compliance with the tax levy limit.