The City of Yonkers is authorized to issue debt not to exceed $45 million to liquidate current deficits in the City School District's general fund as of June 30, 2014. Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2014 requires the City to submit its proposed budgets for the next fiscal year to the State Comptroller and the Commissioner of Education for review while the deficit obligations are outstanding. Our review of the proposed 2020-21 budget disclosed the following issues which should be reviewed by City officials for appropriate action. The School District's 2020-21 budget request is $661.7 million for appropriations; however, the City's Executive Budget contains revenues for the District of $639.2 million, resulting in a budget gap of at least $22.5 million. The City is projecting unassigned general fund balance of $39 million at the end of the 2019-20 fiscal year, however, this includes $97 million in Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM) revenue that has been deferred indefinitely. Before finalizing the budget, the City should review fund balance projections as the result of changes to State aid. This is an important step because the City is appropriating almost all of the projected available fund balance. As a result, the City's appropriation of $33 million in the general fund may not be available. We estimate that the appropriations for overtime for police and firefighting are likely underestimated by as much as $2 million and $4 million, respectively.

The Office of Public Administrator (PA) guidelines regarding the sale of estate real property state that the PA shall determine fair market value and sell all real property or cooperative apartments at public auction or by private sale at the highest and best price available. The Administrator did not always get a professional appraisal for estate houses before listing them for sale.

The Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) did not properly manage District financial operations and the Treasurer did not maintain accurate and reliable accounting records.

Significant revenue and expenditure projections in the proposed budget are reasonable. Although the City appears to have budgeted sufficiently for termination salary payments for the 2020-21 fiscal year, we caution the City that its continued practice of borrowing to fund these operating costs is not fiscally prudent. The City has improved its projections for overtime costs in certain departments. However, it does not appear that the total appropriation will be sufficient. The City's proposed budget includes a tax levy of $46.6 million which is $4,136 above the limit established by law.

District officials did not monitor or properly safeguard information technology (IT) assets. (As of September 2019, the District's inventory records had 4,774 IT assets.)

The County Treasurer, County Clerk and Surrogate's Court are responsible for maintaining up-to-date and complete records for court and trust funds and abandoned property.

The Board and District officials could improve their budgeting practices.

The Board and District officials need to improve budgeting practices.

The Board did not adopt long-term plans or adequately safeguard the Town's IT assets.

District officials did not adequately safeguard online banking transactions.

The District's financial condition has significantly declined and the Board did not adopt a multiyear financial plan.

In most respects, District officials established adequate controls to safeguard assets.

The Board did not appropriately manage the District's fund balance or ensure that reserve funds were properly established and reasonably funded.

The County Director of Finance, County Clerk and Surrogate's Court are responsible for maintaining up-to-date and complete records for court and trust funds and abandoned property.

The Board adopted unrealistic budget estimates and did not effectively monitor fund balance.

The Board and District officials did not develop and adopt a structurally balanced budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

District officials need to improve their budgeting practices to more effectively manage the general fund balance and reserve funds.

The Board did not adequately oversee the Treasurer's work or require annual audits of the Treasurer's records and reports.

The Village lacked effective procedures to ensure water and sewer charges were accurately billed, collected and enforced.

Significant revenue and expenditure projections in the tentative budget are reasonable. We estimate the 2020-21 water and sewer collections will be approximately $4.3 million, which is approximately $190,000 less than budgeted for water revenues and approximately $290,000 less than budgeted for sewer revenues. The Village's tentative budget includes a tax levy of $12,426,613 which is $471,753 above the limit established by law.