Brewster, Southeast, Putnam: Good Fiscal Health

Good news for residents of Brewster village and school district, the town of Southeast and Putnam County: these governmental entities aren’t in fiscal stress.

All four entities had very low scores in the new report out Sept. 23 from State Comptroller Thomas B. DiNapoli.

DiNapoli’s office developed the monitoring system in 2013 to serve as an “early warning” of fiscal stress to local governments based on financial information and aspects of the external environment. A score of 65 to 100 percent indicates a significant degree of fiscal stress. A score of less than 65 percent indicates only moderate fiscal stress, and so on.

The county had the highest score of the foursome, 24.2 percent. Brewster village clocked in at 11.3 percent; Brewster schools at 6.7 percent; and Southeast at 1.7 percent.

The Fiscal Stress Monitoring System looks at two main components: financial indicators, and environmental indicators:

Financial indicators evaluate budgetary solvency, the ability of a locality to generate adequate revenue to meet expenses by measuring year-end fund balances, operating deficits/surpluses, cash position and use of short-term debt for cash flow.

Environmental indicators capture trends that influence revenue-raising capability and demands for services. Those indicators include population, age, property values, employment, dependence on revenue from other government units, constitutional tax limits and sales tax revenue. The Comptroller’s Office notes that these environmental factors are largely outside of a local government’s control, but provide insight about the challenges confronting communities.

• For a copy of DiNapoli’s report Three Years of the Fiscal Stress Monitoring System, visit:http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/fiscalmonitoring/pdf/threeyearsfsms_0915.pdf
• To view the complete, sortable list of fiscal scores for municipalities, visit:http://wwe1.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/fiscalmonitoring/fsms.cfm
• For more detailed information about the Comptroller’s fiscal stress monitoring system and to view reports related to local government fiscal stress visit:www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/fiscalmonitoring/index.htm