State Comptroller DiNapoli Releases Municipal & School Audits

What this means

A factual summary is pending editorial review. The complete official release is reproduced below with issuer attribution and a direct link to the original publication.

Official release

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced the following local government and school audits were issued.

City of Albany – Budget Review (Albany County)

OSC reviewed the city’s adopted fiscal year 2025 and 2026 budgets and determined that significant revenue and expenditure projections were not reasonable. City officials did not prepare budgets using realistic estimates based on historical trends, actual results and the most current and accurate information available. In addition, city officials relied on non-recurring revenues to finance recurring expenditures. The city experienced an unplanned operating deficit of approximately $25 million in fiscal year 2025, which significantly reduced available financial resources and limited the city’s ability to finance amounts included in the 2026 adopted budget. The 2026 adopted budget includes revenues that the city may not realize and appropriations that are underestimated. If current operating trends continue, auditors project the city will have a fiscal year-end deficit of approximately $26 million.

City of Oneonta – Cybersecurity (Otsego County)

City officials did not provide adequate governance to safeguard Information Technology (IT) assets from cybersecurity threats. While the city’s third-party IT vendor created several cybersecurity policies, standards and guidelines, the city’s common council did not formally adopt the policies and city officials did not review, enforce or monitor employee compliance with the policies. In addition, officials did not communicate the policies to city employees in a timely manner, and they did not clearly document cybersecurity roles and responsibilities in city employees’ job descriptions. As a result, policy violations occurred, including officials not documenting risk assessment activities and employees not completing cybersecurity awareness training within 30 days of hire.

Lockwood Volunteer Fire Department – Financial Activities (Tioga County)

Department officials did not ensure that financial activities were properly supported, authorized, recorded and reported or provide the department board of directors with complete, accurate and timely information needed to effectively oversee the Department’s financial operations.

Town of Wallkill – Budget Review (Orange County)

The town’s adopted budget for fiscal year 2026 risks negatively impacting the town’s financial condition and putting the town in a declining financial position. Because the town did not have complete, accurate and current accounting and financial records, auditors’ ability to determine the reasonableness of the town’s significant revenue and expenditure projections was limited. The budget included appropriated fund balance as well as significant revenue and expenditure projections that were not always reasonable or supported. While the one-time state aid of $4 million will ease concerns for the 2026 fiscal year, the combination of these factors puts the town at risk of having a declining financial condition.

Town of Washington – Financial Operations (Dutchess County)

The board and officials did not effectively manage the town’s fund balances. As a result, officials maintained unrestricted fund balance in the main operating funds that exceeded the town’s 25% fund balance policy limit and adopted unrealistic budgets that generated operating surpluses and accumulated excess fund balances. Inadequate budgeting practices, including appropriating fund balance that was not needed to fund operations, may have resulted in taxpayers paying more in real property taxes than necessary. In addition, while officials stated that excess fund balance was set aside for future capital plans and maintenance, they did not develop a multiyear financial plan or a capital plan to identify, prioritize and fund those needs and guide budget development and decisions.

Village of Elmsford – Employee Benefits (Westchester County)

Village officials did not ensure employees’ leave accruals and payments of unused leave accruals were accurate, approved and supported. Failing to ensure that employees’ leave accruals and payments are accurate resulted in employees being compensated for or taking leave to which they were not entitled and creates the potential for future errors. As a result, the village incurred unnecessary salary-related expenditures.

Village of Fonda – Water Fund Financial Operations (Montgomery County)

The board did not effectively manage the water fund’s financial operations, causing the fund balance to decline and reducing the board’s ability to respond to emergencies, infrastructure and service needs or other unanticipated occurrences. In addition, the board did not provide oversight of the clerk-treasurer’s water duties.

Village of Lansing – Procurement (Tompkins County)

The board and village officials did not always use a competitive process to procure goods and services according to the statutory requirements in state law, the village’s procurement policy or best practices. As a result, village officials did not have assurance that purchases were made in a manner that guards against favoritism, improvidence, extravagance, fraud and corruption, while fostering honest competition for the village to obtain the best goods and services at the lowest possible price.

Release text attributed to New York Office of the State Comptroller. Consult the official publication for any subsequent corrections or updates.