This 2013 Annual Report on Local Governments highlights the difficult fiscal environment under which local officials are expected to fulfill their obligations to the people they serve, and outlines the steps OSC is taking to assist in these efforts.

This report highlights the many services that are available to local officials through our Division of Local Government and School Accountability, including audits, training and research.

This report highlights the new fiscal realities facing local governments and school districts as they work to comply with the new property tax cap while grappling with the lingering effects of the recent recession. In addition, the report addresses recent audits and summarizes many of the services and activities provided by our Division of Local Government and School Accountability.

This report highlights some of the challenges facing New York’s local governments and school districts, and summarizes many of the services and activities provided by our Division of Local Government and School Accountability.

This report summarizes the services and activities of the Division of Local Government and School Accountability. Our staff members in Albany and in our eight regional offices across the State are committed to promoting taxpayers’ interests by helping improve the fiscal management of New York’s local governments and schools.

The 2008 Annual Report on Local Governments introduces a new look to the annual local government financial data reported by every county, city, town, village, school district and fire district in New York State. In an effort to promote transparency and accountability, OSC has now made much of the data reported to it from 1996 to 2006 accessible through Open Book New York– a new, user-friendly website that also provides information on spending by State agencies, as well as all State contracts.

This report outlines major local government fiscal trends and highlights recent policy developments that affect their financial health. It also summarizes the services and activities of the Division of Local Government and School Accountability, where staff in Albany and eight regional offices across the State are committed to promoting taxpayers’ interests by helping to improve the fiscal management of local governments and schools within New York.

Highlighted within this report are some of the major fiscal trends in New York’s local governments and recent policy developments that affect their operations and financial health. This report helps illustrate the complex and changing environment in which local governments must operate, and the delicate balance local officials must achieve between service delivery and fiscal responsibility.

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).

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.