This report provides an analysis of annual financial data reported to the Office of the State Comptroller and the Authorities Budget Office by IDAs for fiscal year 2014, discusses regional impacts and highlights a new law championed by Comptroller DiNapoli, which increases transparency in IDA operations.

This guide is designed to assist local governments and school districts contain certain personal service costs. It is broken down into the following sections: • Containing Health Insurance Costs • Minimizing Unemployment Insurance Costs • Managing Workers’ Compensation Costs • Overtime Planning and Management
The suggestions in this guide are ideas for you to consider and possibly utilize in the management of your operations and in the development of your annual budget. You will need to tailor these cost savings opportunities to fit the requirements and needs of your local government or school district.

This guide provides an overview of the following procurement topics: • Who is Responsible ? • Planning and Promotion • Seeking Competition • E-Procurement • Cooperative Purchasing • Piggybacking on Certain Government Contracts • Procurement Policies and Procedures • Professional Services • Preferred Sources • Environmentally Responsible Purchasing • Ethics and Conflicts of Interest.

Shared services can help municipalities increase effectiveness and efficiency in their operation. As municipal responsibilities become increasingly complex and demanding, municipalities should explore shared services and other cooperative opportunities as a way to reduce or avoid costs, improve service delivery, or maintain services.

This guide is a resource for those governing bodies and officials who are responsible for preparing, developing, and monitoring the annual budget. The following is an overview of the information contained in this guide: • Who is Responsible? • Information Used to Prepare the Budget • Budget Preparation Process • Putting the Tentative Budget Together • Implementing the Budget • Monitoring the Budget

This brief focuses on prolonged foreclosure activity in New York State and the challenges facing local governments and communities in the wake of the foreclosure crisis.

To keep public funds safe, officials and cash managers need to understand the requirements they must comply with and the investment limitations and safeguards required of local government investments and deposits. This guide includes the following sections about the fundamentals of investing and protecting local government funds in New York State: • Prudence in Investments • Actively Monitor Cash Flow • Investment of Public Funds • Protection of Deposits and Investments • Investment Policy • Other Topics

This report examines the recent history of school aid, highlighting the opportunities and challenges presented by this year’s budget. The first section looks at aid from the school district perspective, followed by a discussion in the context of New York’s overall budget.

Total local sales tax collections in New York State grew by $552 million, or 3.6 percent, from 2014 to 2015 This was stronger than the 3.0 percent increase in the prior year. New York City sales tax collections grew by 7.3 percent, or $487 million, about half of which was due to an adjustment for incorrect payments in previous years. Excluding New York City, growth in local sales tax collections was 0.7 percent, with 30 of 57 counties outside of New York City having declines in their 2015 sales tax collections.

The 2015 Annual Report on New York State’s local governments describes the revenue and expenditure trends affecting our counties, cities, towns, villages and school districts, and highlights some of the work the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) is doing in the areas of policy research, auditing and training.

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide guidance related to the accounting for moneys received by County governments from the Compassionate Care Act. These revenues are derived from an excise tax on the gross receipts from the sale of medical marihuana.

Three Years of School District Fiscal Stress Results: School Years 2012-13 to 2014-15 01/28/2016 - For school year 2014-15, OSC identified 82 school districts as experiencing some degree of fiscal stress: eight were in significant fiscal stress, 24 in moderate fiscal stress and 50 were susceptible to fiscal stress. The share of school districts experiencing fiscal stress has remained fairly stable over time. The tax cap continues to constrain districts’ ability to increase their property tax levies; for 2016-17 the growth factor will be 0.12 percent. 

The audit committee assists and advises the board on issues relating to the district’s internal and external audits.

To effectively manage your local government’s capital assets, you must develop a long-term plan. The plan should address how you monitor and maintain assets and how much you can spend within your budget.

By developing a structured approach for assessing and funding capital assets, you can help avoid the unexpected, such as sudden road or building closures or cost overruns.

When employees need to make small one-time purchases, it is often more convenient for them to pay with a credit card than to fill out a procurement request form and wait for it to be approved. This also saves time and energy for procurement staff.

The cost of this convenience is the heightened risk of inappropriate spending, such as wasteful or personal purchases. To ensure that credit cards are used only for approved and necessary expenses, local governments must have both a credit card policy and a system of internal controls in place.

As an employer, you should always look for ways to contain health insurance costs without cutting current benefit levels.

You can realize significant savings for your school district or local government by paying less for energy and consuming less energy. Reducing energy consumption also makes communities greener.

The external auditor performs the legally required financial statement audit and renders an opinion on whether the financial statements are in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

To ensure your fleet operation is cost effective and efficient, you should establish a management policy that each department can monitor for compliance.

Essential to this oversight is keeping good records, such as vehicle daily mileage logs, fuel usage logs, and the cumulative costs of parts, labor and overhead by a vehicle over its life.

Because your municipality’s fleet and usage are unique, use these guidelines to craft an effective fleet management system best suited to your needs.

The internal auditor:

• develops a risk assessment and ensures proper internal controls are in place and working;
• performs an annual update on the risk assessment;
• tests and evaluates one or more areas of the district’s operations periodically; and
• prepares reports analyzing risk assessment findings and recommends changes for strengthening internal controls and reducing identified risks.

The internal auditor must report directly to the board.