Friday, April 26, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
For the second year, Parishville-Hopkinton and Brasher Falls central school districts are included in the state comptroller’s annual list of school districts in fiscal stress. No St. Lawrence …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active, online-only subscription then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
For the second year, Parishville-Hopkinton and Brasher Falls central school districts are included in the state comptroller’s annual list of school districts in fiscal stress.
No St. Lawrence County schools were listed this year in the two highest stress categories, “Significant Stress” or “Moderate Stress.”
Parishville-Hopkinton and Brasher Falls are listed as “Susceptible to Fiscal Stress,” with scores, as calculated by the comptroller’s office, at 36.7 percent and 35 percent respectively.
Using indicators that include year-end fund balance, short-term borrowing and patterns of operating deficits, the exercise creates a score that classifies districts in one of the categories.
Last year, Brasher Falls, Parishville-Hopkinton, Colton-Pierrepont and Hammond schools were on the list. In 2014, Ogdensburg and Potsdam schools were cited.
There are 82 schools on this year’s list out of 672 districts whose information was assessed.
The higher the score, the more fiscal stress is seen in a district’s financial status. The highest score, 98.3 percent, was given to the school district in Hempstead, Long Island. The cutoff for being put on the list is 25 percent.
The scores are based on information submitted by school districts for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015.
“The overall number of school districts in fiscal stress has essentially remained steady the past three years,” said Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. “A few have remained in stress for the entire period and we’re watching closely to see if the limited growth allowed by the tax cap this year pushes more school districts into fiscal stress. I recommend that local school officials use our system as a tool when crafting their budgets and developing long-term financial plans.”
School districts found to be in fiscal stress share a number of common characteristics, the comptroller’s office said. Most are operating with low fund balance, operating deficits and limited cash on hand. These districts were also found to have a much higher likelihood of using short-term borrowing to bridge cash flow gaps.
