Poughkeepsie Reduces City's Budget Deficit With 2016 Surplus

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — The City of Poughkeepsie ended 2016 with a surplus. As a result, it was able to apply $873,904 to reduce the city’s fund balance deficit. Mayor Rob Rolison made the announcement Tuesday that the city’s general fund deficit has been reduced to approximately $11.9 million.

“The city ended 2015 with a $1.9 million deficit, so clearly our efforts to cut costs and stabilize the budget are having a real impact on our overall financial condition,” Rolison said. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

City Finance Commissioner Marc Nelson said “with a negative fund balance, we obviously have zero reserves, which makes budgeting and forecasting accuracy absolutely essential.”

He said it’s clear the decisions made since the beginning of 2016 are behind the stabilization of the city’s finances.

In December, 2016 Moody’s Investors Service issued a “credit positive” statement about the city’s financial condition, saying its 2017 budget signaled a move toward “structural balance.”

Seven months later, the credit rating agency upgraded the city’s outlook from “negative” to “stable.”

“These financial results signal an improving ability to govern more proactively and to address more of the issues that have gone unattended in our community for far too long,” Rolison said.

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