Local Sales Tax Collections Up 5.7 Percent in First Half of 2013; Growth Concentrated Downstate

The decline in manufacturing has contributed to the City of Binghamton’s high rates of unemployment and poverty compared to statewide averages. The City must also contend with constraints upon its ability to raise revenues.

Many of New York’s local governments are still struggling with the effects of the recent recession. The following report takes a look at how some of the drivers of fiscal stress have affected counties, cities, towns, and villages.

The City has paid down a significant amount of debt. This, along with the City’s substantial fund balance and a large tax margin, leave Watertown well positioned to cope with current and future fiscal challenges.

The City of Elmira has taken measures to control expenditures through management efficiencies, while still recognizing the importance of investment in infrastructure and economic development initiatives.

The City of Rochester projects large and growing budget gaps in its 2013-14 through 2017-18 fiscal years. Absent significant spending cuts or increasing revenues, the gaps could cause the City to exhaust its available fund balance within the next two fiscal years.

The City of Syracuse faces many of the same challenges as other upstate cities. However, a larger than average percentage of its property tax base is either exempt or delinquent and growing fixed costs in the budgets of the City and the dependent school district have created chronic budget gaps.

By several measures, Yonkers is better off than many other cities in the State. Despite these advantages, the City has been challenged by significant structural budget gaps and, by the end of its 2011 fiscal year, the City had essentially depleted its general fund reserves.

Sluggish growth in sales tax revenues adds additional pressure to already strained county budgets and to the budgets of other local governments that receive sales tax revenues through sharing agreements. | [read county-by-county data - pdf]

Gloversville faces significant fiscal challenges as it has nearly exhausted its constitutional taxing limit, severely limiting its flexibility to address unforeseen expenses and make ongoing infrastructure investments.

Utica has been in fiscal decline in recent years, relying on non-recurring revenues to fill budget gaps. Its new mayor has vowed to work with the City Council and OSC to ensure that the City remains in control of its own financial future.

From 2001 to 2011, total federal and state aid combined, grew at an average rate of 2.2 percent annually, slower than the rate of inflation (2.4 percent).

Local governments’ infrastructure needs are substantial and growing, while their ability to maintain their investments in capital programs is increasingly constrained. State policy changes could help reverse this trend..

Just as Niagara Falls seemed to be making headway in its financial struggles, a dispute between the Seneca Nation and the State of New York has resulted in the City losing as much as $60 million in revenue. The City’s 2013 executive budget proposal called for significant layoffs, program cutbacks, and property tax increases.

Salamanca unexpectedly lost revenues from the Seneca Allegany Casino due to a dispute between the Seneca Nation and New York State over exclusive gaming rights. Although Salamanca aggressively responded to this revenue crisis, the City could run out of cash before the fiscal year ends on March 31, 2013.

This report seeks to inform that debate by examining the economic and fiscal histories of these other cities between 1980 and 2010, a period characterized by divergent trends for different groups of cities in the Empire State.

This report describes the fiscal oversight OSC provides to local governments faced with the serious fiscal challenges of budgeting with fewer resources to fund rising expenditures, all while staying within the recently enacted property tax cap.

School districts can use EBALR moneys to make cash payments to employees for accrued leave time due to them when they leave school district employment. OSC certified the excess EBALR funds that school districts had reserved, but could not legally use, so district officials could put these moneys to productive use to pay for operating costs.

This report briefly describes that the average allowable levy growth is 3 percent, rather than the 2 percent voters may be expecting.
All tax cap elements, as reported by school districts to the Office of the State Comptroller, are provided in the accompanying tables. Tax Cap Elements by County [xls] | Tax Cap Elements by Region [xls] | Tax Cap Elements by School [xls]

This report briefly describes the impact of the housing market crisis on New York State. The report also highlights the results of a survey by OSC on whether local officials are utilizing the 2009 law requiring foreclosing lenders to maintain vacant or abandoned properties.