FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17, 2020

Proposed 2021 Budget Gets Clean Bill of Health from Comptroller
and Legislature's Outside Auditors

New City, NY, - The New York State Comptroller's Office has given its approval to County Executive Ed Day’s 2021 Proposed Budget. The New York State Comptroller’s Office reviewed the proposed $721.7 million 2021 spending plan, which matches the New York State property tax cap while avoiding layoffs. 

"Based on the results of our review, we found that the significant revenue and expenditure projections in the 2021 proposed budget are reasonable," wrote Deputy State Comptroller Elliot Auerbach in a letter to the County Executive and members of the Rockland County Legislature.

 A review and analysis of the Proposed 2021 Budget was also performed by CGR Inc., the outside auditing firm retained by the Rockland County Legislature. 

CGR Inc. Project Director Paul Bishop wrote that with a forecast of reduced sales tax revenue, “The County Executive has presented a balanced spending plan for 2021 that considers the challenges being faced by governments everywhere and makes reasonable adjustments from prior years’ practices … The budget includes reduced expenditures, but avoids laying off personnel. The budget also continues to reduce the debt and does not anticipate using any of the fund balance,” wrote CGR Inc. Project Director Paul Bishop in the review.

“I thank both the Comptroller’s Office and CGR for their thorough reviews of the 2021 Proposed Budget,” said County Executive Day. “While we have faced some difficult budgets since I took office, this year was like nothing I have experienced. Since March with the onset of the pandemic, it has been common knowledge that we are facing a fiscal tsunami from reduced sales tax and state aid revenue as well as increased expenditures fighting the pandemic. This budget holds the line on expenses and continues to conservatively estimate revenues as we work to maintain the General Fund’s Undesignated Fund Balance while protecting the jobs of our dedicated employees who already part of a workforce that has been reduced by 22% since 2014.”

The County Executive thanked Rockland Finance Commissioner Stephen DeGroat and Budget Director Steve Grogan for their efforts on this budget.

The Comptroller’s Office reviews the 2021 Proposed Budget, salary schedules, debt payment schedules and other pertinent information. They also examined the significant revenue and expenditure projections for reasonableness with emphasis on significant and/or unrealistic increases or decreases, which were deemed reasonable.

These favorable reviews come on the heels of Moody’s upgrading the County’s bond rating to A1 in August. As one of the reasons for the upgrade, Moody’s Investors Service Credit Opinion cited, “given management’s conservative budgeting in recent years, particularly for sales tax revenues, reserves have improved significantly over the past five years ending fiscal 2019 at its highest level in nearly 20 years.”

 The letter from the New York State Comptroller's Office and the CGR Inc. review are available upon request.

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