Elmira and the town of Cortlandville were among 22 New York municipalities designated as fiscally stressed for fiscal years ending in 2025, according to new scores from the state comptroller. Both were placed in the lowest of the system's three stress categories, called susceptible to fiscal stress.
The comptroller's latest fiscal stress release identifies Elmira in Chemung County and Cortlandville in Cortland County among the 15 municipalities newly scored in the calendar-year round. The designation is an early-warning measure based on financial indicators, not a finding that either municipality cannot meet its obligations.
Statewide, the number of municipalities assigned some level of fiscal stress fell from 23 for fiscal year 2024 to 22 for 2025. The number in the most severe category, significant fiscal stress, rose from four to six, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.
How the scores work
The Fiscal Stress Monitoring System, launched in 2013, examines year-end fund balances, operating deficits, cash on hand, short-term borrowing and fixed costs. DiNapoli's office describes it as a way for local officials to spot problems early and for residents to assess their governments' financial condition.
The office releases municipal scores twice a year because local governments use different fiscal calendars. The latest round covers all counties and towns, 44 cities and 13 villages operating on a calendar year. It found eight cities, six towns and one village in some degree of fiscal stress. An earlier round, announced in March, identified seven villages with non-calendar fiscal years. School district scores were released separately in January.
Elmira and Cortlandville join Glen Cove, Johnstown and Schenectady, and the town of La Grange, in the susceptible category in the latest round. Poughkeepsie and the towns of Minden, North Greenbush and Ramapo were designated in moderate fiscal stress.
The highest category in this round includes the cities of Albany, Dunkirk and Little Falls, the town of Kent and the village of New Hempstead. The statewide annual total of six significant-stress designations also includes a municipality from the earlier non-calendar-year round.
More cities stressed, but fewer municipalities overall
The number of cities with a fiscal stress designation doubled from four in fiscal year 2024 to eight in 2025. Towns and villages with a designation declined from 19 to 14. No county received a fiscal stress designation for the fifth consecutive year.
Of the 22 municipalities designated statewide, 13 had higher stress scores than a year earlier, including nine that had no designation in 2024. Eight municipalities that were designated in 2024 improved enough to receive no designation in 2025. Nine were designated in both years.
Albany, Poughkeepsie, Little Falls and the village of Coxsackie have now been designated for four consecutive years, according to the comptroller. The office did not identify Elmira or Cortlandville as part of that four-year group.
DiNapoli cited the end of federal pandemic aid, inflation, rising operating costs and slower sales-tax revenue growth as pressures facing local governments. He urged officials to use the monitoring system when preparing budgets.
Late filings leave some governments unscored
Not every municipality received a score. The number that failed to file financial reports in time peaked at 264 for fiscal year 2023 and fell to 225 for 2025, the comptroller's office said. Cities showed the largest percentage improvement in filing, while towns accounted for the largest numerical decline.
The office said its audits have found that governments filing late more often have weaknesses in recordkeeping, billing, financial management and internal controls. A missing score therefore should not be read as evidence that a government's finances are sound.
The comptroller also released a report with fiscal stress designations, indicator analysis and detailed municipality-level scores. Local officials and residents can use those results to examine the figures behind an individual designation.
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