AUDITOR’S REPORT: THE STATE OF GREENBURGH’S FINANCES AS OF THE END OF 2022 IS GREAT
Fund balance increased...
At this week’s Town Board work session, two representatives from O’Connor Davis, the accounting firm who conduct our annual audit, revealed the findings of their regular financial review.
You can watch the meeting footage here: https://youtu.be/QhezbA9Y0A4
To sum up: the history of the Town’s “excellence in financial reporting,” an honor we have received for many years, will likely continue. Auditors Scott Owen and Jeffrey Shaver, firm partner, reported that they again submitted us as one of few towns in their client roster for consideration of this annual award, which recognizes that we conform to the highest standards and comply to all accounting and reporting laws.
The auditors found the town’s budgets overall to be in excellent shape. The General Fund Balance, which refers to the money in the bank set aside for future expenses, has increased from 2021 to 2022 from $23.5M to $27.5M, with a good (68%) of the residual fund balance not encumbered in any way. “That’s a good number, it shows that we’re in a healthy position,” Shaver said. The fact that there is a budget surplus in such uncertain economic times is a “practice proven to be prudent,” he said.
We spent less than anticipated (by about $12M) and collected more (approximately $2.5M) in 2022 largely due to funds allocated toward the courthouse rebuild that went unused and excess building fees from Regeneron on the plus side. In future reporting, the courthouse funds won’t skew things so dramatically as they will be allocated to their fund not to be reflected in the budget. And Regeneron fees, in light of their current massive expansion, are considered a one-shot not to be factored into future projections.
For the Town Outside Budget, the case is similar – with a revenue greater than anticipated (by about $4.5M) and the expenditure less (by about $5.3M). The total Town Outside Fund Balance for 2022 was $34.9M, making it a very “positive year.” As far expenditures, the accountants said we “do a good job of keeping them less than anticipated” across all line items.
In regards to common citizen complaints about the burden of taxes overall, the board urged citizens to consider the bigger picture: the Town portion of taxes amount to about 10% of the total pie in some districts we collect on behalf of the schools and county. Town taxes have stayed constant for several years, and most lately actually decreased. The schools tax, based on rising property values which is beholden to market rates, comprises about 65% of the total tax bill. Board members urged citizens to review the school budget if they have concerns and to participate in what tend to amount to paltry turnout for school budget votes.
For more details you can review the report and watch the video: https://youtu.be/QhezbA9Y0A4
PAUL FEINER
Greenburgh Town Supervisor