Local Government Publications

Across the State, growing medicaid costs continue to place significant pressure on local fiscal conditions. See related: 2006 County by County data [pdf]

A new law was enacted (Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2005) to "cap" county Medicaid costs at calendar 2005 levels and limit growth rates to 3.5 percent in 2006 and 3.25 percent in 2007.

While many local governments are in stable financial condition, many are not—particularly upstate urban communities, where population losses and economic decline are eroding their ability to support basic governmental functions. As this report describes, there are very different underlying conditions facing municipalities depending on geography (upstate or downstate) and type of community (city versus suburb).

The “Big Five” cities of New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers either are, or have recently been, fiscally distressed. This affects their dependent school systems, which already face significant challenges associated with the socio-economic composition of their students and the age of their facilities.

Across the State, growing Medicaid costs continue to place significant pressure on local fiscal conditions. With most counties already seeking or receiving State legislative approval to increase their sales tax rates to 4 percent or more, and some dangerously close to exhausting their property tax margins, counties are being challenged to effectively deal with rising Medicaid costs.

Unrestricted aid to local governments – known as revenue sharing – is State aid that can be used for any local government purpose. The intended goal is to redistribute tax dollars broadly to municipalities which do not have the tax base or taxing authority to generate this revenue on their own.

This research brief— focusing mainly on demographic trends—is the first of a series that will examine major issues facing local governments in New York State.

The purpose of this bulletin is to amend our January 2001 bulletin entitled ‘Tobacco Settlement Payments’ based upon the release of GASB Technical Bulletin No. 2004-1 ‘Tobacco Settlement Recognition and Financial Reporting Entity Issues.’

This annual report highlights major issues facing local governments, building upon the studies and audits from the Division, which are increasingly directed at issues of statewide or regional concern, such as smart growth or the empire zones program.

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform local government officials of the establishment of new revenue and appropriation codes to account for and report homeland security aid and related expenditures.

This paper is intended to help stimulate a vigorous debate on smart growth in New York State by providing a general background and helping to define major issues. New York has a unique urban and natural heritage, and a rich diversity of communities, many of which need to be brought back to a healthy condition. These resources need to be conserved and developed wisely, in an economically sustainable and environmentally sound manner.

This bulletin discusses the importance of conducting internal audits of cash collection activities and provides guidance for their successful completion. It is intended primarily for towns and villages, but could be utilized by other local governments.

This report provides a summary of the Division’s activities and gives an overview of local government finances in New York State.

A recurring issue that some of our audits have found within the past few years is that some municipalities do not perform routine bank reconciliations. This technical assistance bulletin is provided to stress the importance of bank reconciliations and provide guidance for successfully completing one.

This bulletin explains revenue account code changes related to Child Welfare Funding in the 2002-03 State Budget.

The objective of the project was to provide a financial reporting model that provides users of financial statements with information which will enhance their understanding of governmental operations and ultimately result in an increased accountability by the governmental units.

This bulletin explains the reporting requirements for advance refunding bonds. Many school districts are issuing advance refunding bonds this year because the state is changing how it calculates and pays building aid. Building aid, rather than being based on actual debt service payments, will now be based on an "assumed amortization calculation" that assumes that districts borrow money for the maximum period of probable usefulness allowed by Local Finance Law section 11.00 and pays an assumed interest rate. Details are on the State Education Department's website.

The purpose of this bulletin is two-fold:

• First, we want to assure those local governments not implementing GASB Statement No.34 that the upcoming adjustments that will be made to the fund level statements for 2002 fiscal year end reporting will not have a major impact on their record keeping and/or financial reporting to OSC. Our January 2001 accounting release focused on the changes associated with accounting and reporting of trust funds. Other changes, dealing with terminology and account codes changes, will be addressed in a future bulletin.
• Second, we want to provide those local governments contemplating implementation of GASB Statement No. 34 with some basic information about the fund financial statements that are the third element of the model. The following information is provided for those local governments contemplating the implementation of GASB Statement No. 34.

The purpose of this bulletin is to alert you to legislative changes requested by the State Comptroller that apply to budgets for fiscal years commencing on or after January 1, 2001 and to provide information that will help determine a reasonable level of fund balance for your government.

GASB Statement No. 34 makes significant changes to the accounting and reporting requirements for expendable and nonexpendable trusts. The statement eliminates the designation of expendable and nonexpendable trust funds and creates new funds based on the ability to use these resources for governmental purposes.