Purpose of Budget Review
The purpose of our budget review was to provide an independent evaluation of the proposed 2025-26 budget.
Background
The Village of Suffern is located in Orange County. Chapter 99 of the Laws of 2015 authorizes the Village of Suffern (Village) to issue 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 to the State Comptroller each year, starting with the fiscal year during which the local government is authorized to issue the deficit 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
- We found that the significant revenue and expenditure projections in the proposed budget are reasonable.
- The Village’s proposed budget complies with the tax levy limit because it includes a tax levy of $12,079,830, which is within the limits established by law.
Key Recommendation
- In adopting the 2025-26 budget, the Board should 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 it properly overrides the tax levy limit prior to adopting the budget.