Purpose of Budget Review

The purpose of our budget review was to determine whether the significant revenue and expenditure projections in the Village’s proposed budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year are reasonable.

Background

The Village of Suffern, located in Rockland County, issued debt not to exceed $5 million to liquidate the accumulated deficits in the Village’s general, water, sewer and capital projects funds as of May 31, 2015. New York State Local Finance Law Section 10.10 requires local governments that have been authorized to issue obligations to fund operating deficits to submit their proposed budgets for the next fiscal year to the State Comptroller for review while the deficit obligations are outstanding.

Key Findings

• Significant revenue and expenditure projections in the proposed budget are reasonable.
• The proposed budget does not comply with the tax levy limit because it includes a tax levy of $10,897,667, which is $208,037 above the limits established by law.

Key Recommendation

• In adopting the 2017-18 budget, be mindful of the legal requirement to maintain the tax levy increase to no more than the tax levy limit as permitted by law, unless the Board properly approves overriding the tax levy limit.