The City of Kingston is a destination for culture, arts and history located along the Hudson River in eastern Ulster County in the Mid-Hudson Region. Kingston is doing well by many fiscal measures. However, housing affordability has been a pressure point for city leaders, who have used multiple strategies including zoning reform, rent stabilization and property tax exemptions to address this challenge. Recently, the city has experienced budgetary pressures, as it has ramped up its debt issuance to make long-term investments in infrastructure and institutions.

Sales tax collections for local governments and other local taxing entities in New York State totaled $5.8 billion in the first calendar quarter of 2025, up 3.2 percent ($180 million) from the prior year. This growth, while higher than that in January-March 2024 (1.6 percent), marked the second straight year that first quarter growth was below the 3.5 percent average growth rate for the 2010 to 2019 period of recovery and expansion following the Great Recession. All of the state’s 10 regions saw year-over-year growth in first quarter collections.

This report examines the ways that funding received by local governments – from federal stimulus programs – as well as volatile annual state and local revenue sources – can impact local budgeting. The temporary nature of the federal stimulus funds in combination with state aid that has not kept pace with inflation, sales tax growth that has returned to lower pre-pandemic levels, and flat property tax revenue growth can put local governments closer to the edge of the fiscal cliff if not carefully managed.

Sales tax collections for local governments and other local taxing entities in New York State totaled $23.4 billion in calendar year 2024, up 1.6 percent (or nearly $376 million) from the prior year. This increase not only marked the lowest year-over-year rate of growth in collections since the COVID-related decline in 2020, but it was less than half the average annual growth rate (3.8 percent) for the 2011 to 2019 period of recovery and expansion following the Great Recession.

This report highlights Fiscal Stress Monitoring System (FSMS) results for school districts that reported for school fiscal year (SY) 2023-24, which ended on June 30, 2024. Of the 670 districts scored, 22, or 3.3 percent, received a fiscal stress designation. This is six more than in SY 2022-23. The report also includes a look at districts that have experienced chronic fiscal stress over the twelve years since FSMS began and a brief analysis of the system’s companion set of environmental indicators.

The City of Corning, located in Steuben County in the Southern Tier, is an economic and cultural center for the region. Despite a substantial decline in population since 1950, Corning is doing well by many fiscal measures. The City has also been successful in forming partnerships with local stakeholders to enhance economic development to serve visitors and residents.

Local government sales tax collections in New York State totaled $5.98 billion in the third calendar quarter of 2024, up 1.4 percent (or $82.7 million) compared to the same quarter last year. Statewide local collections this past quarter continued a general trend of declining growth that followed a post-pandemic spike. In fact, the third quarter’s 1.4 percent growth was the lowest quarterly year-over-year increase following the pandemic-induced declines.

This snapshot highlights the results for counties, cities, towns and villages that reported for local fiscal years ending (FYE) in 2023. Overall, the number of local governments designated in fiscal stress remained at historic lows in FYE 2023. Included in this report is an analysis of environmental stress indicators, including population decline and reliance on State and federal aid. | Fiscal Stress Monitoring System Statistics

Local government sales tax collections in New York State totaled $5.83 billion in the second calendar quarter of 2024, up 2.2 percent (or $127 million) compared to the same quarter last year. While year-over-year growth in the second quarter was slightly stronger than the 1.6 percent increase seen in the first quarter, it still lagged growth rates realized after the first quarter in 2021. However, it was not unusual to see collections increase around (or under) 2 percent, year over year, in the decade before the pandemic.

This report focuses on the condition of local bridges using data from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory. New York has made progress in recent years. Since 2017, the share of local bridges in poor condition has fallen from 12.1 percent to 10.0 percent. The federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has directed federal funds to a variety of infrastructure projects, including bridge projects. The IIJA created the Bridge Formula Program, which provides $2.0 billion in federal funding for New York bridges from federal fiscal years 2022-2026.