Eight Finger Lakes towns had not filed their 2025 annual financial reports with New York state by June 30, according to a new comptroller’s review. Together, those towns levied $8.4 million in property taxes in 2025, leaving residents without a timely statewide accounting of how their local governments handled public money.
The Office of State Comptroller’s report, issued Sept. 18, also examined records in 18 selected towns. Sodus in Wayne County was the only Finger Lakes town in that closer review; the report does not name the region’s eight 2025 nonfilers, so it does not establish that Sodus was among them.
The distinction matters. The regional count describes annual reports missing as of a June 30 snapshot, while the findings about Sodus come from a separate examination of the town’s accounting and board oversight, with some filing information measured as of Feb. 27. Neither snapshot establishes what a town may have filed since then.
Most towns filed, but the nonfiling count held steady
Of New York’s 933 towns, 593 — about 64% — filed their 2025 annual financial reports on time. Another 181 filed late, and 159 had not filed by June 30. The on-time rate improved from 50% for 2022, but the number of nonfiling towns rose slightly from 156 to 159 over that period. Seventeen towns filed no annual financial report for any of the four years from 2022 through 2025, the comptroller’s office found.
The 159 towns without 2025 reports served about 1 million residents and levied a combined $389.2 million in property taxes that year. The report also found 28 nonfilers in the Southern Tier, with $31 million in levies, and 24 in Central New York, with $19.2 million. Those are the comptroller’s regional groupings, not a list of particular towns.
Annual financial reports let residents, town boards and state officials compare a government’s revenues, spending, debt and fund balances. Timely figures are especially important before budget and tax decisions: towns pay for services including roads and snow removal, water and sewer systems, and public safety. The comptroller said town officials can make those decisions without a complete picture when accounting records and reports fall behind.
The state figures have a further limit. The report calculated about $6.3 billion in town revenue and a 46% property-tax share using the 774 towns that had submitted 2025 reports by June 30, not all 933 towns. It put the tax levies of all towns at about $2.9 billion.
What auditors found in Sodus
In the report’s closer review, Sodus had a 2025 general and highway operating budget of about $3.9 million and a property-tax levy of about $1.5 million. The town had roughly 8,000 residents. Its most recent annual financial report on file was for 2021 as of Feb. 27, 2026, and reviewers found no evidence of a required annual audit of the town’s 2024 books by the town board. They also classified the town’s accounting records as not up to date.
A separate comptroller’s audit of Sodus, released in April and previously covered by FingerLakes1.com, gives more detail. It found that monthly financial reports to the board were incomplete or inaccurate, monthly bank reconciliations were not prepared, and seven highway department overtime payments were calculated incorrectly. The audit made 11 recommendations, and town officials agreed with its findings, according to the comptroller’s office.
Those findings point to weak financial controls and public reporting, not a finding that money was stolen or that Sodus faced a deficit. The comptroller’s review of available bank balances did not identify significant fiscal concerns. The state report does not say whether the town has since completed missing filings or corrective steps.
Problems across the selected towns
The comptroller chose 18 towns in nine regions for closer examination of 2024 finances. Twelve had not filed their 2024 reports, five filed late and one filed on time. This was a targeted group, not a random sample from which to estimate how often every town has the same accounting problems.
All 18 chief fiscal officers knew the state filing requirement, but eight towns had incomplete or outdated accounting records. Only two gave their boards complete, current financial reports. In 15, reviewers found no evidence that the board conducted its annual audit of the books; for the other three, records did not show precisely what was reviewed and tested or what the results were.
The report documents the practical risk behind those gaps. In one town, book balances and bank balances differed by amounts ranging from $1.1 million to $4.9 million. In another, the balance sheet included $165,250 in incorrect liabilities and $1.2 million recorded in the wrong funds. The comptroller did not identify those towns publicly in the statewide report, and those amounts should not be attributed to Sodus.
Reviewers also identified $21,143 in potential overpayments to 13 employees across five towns. In 13 of the 18 towns, property-tax levies increased by 1% to 10% between 2023 and 2025; eight of the increases exceeded 5%. The comptroller said some increases might not have been necessary if officials had reliable financial information. The review did not establish that any specific town’s tax increase was unwarranted.
Officials cited competing duties, staffing vacancies or turnover, and a need for training as reasons reports and records lagged. State law sets annual financial report deadlines based on town population, generally 60, 90 or 120 days after the fiscal year ends, with extensions available. It also requires public access to filed reports and annual board examination of financial records.
The comptroller recommended that towns keep their accounting records current, reconcile bank accounts, provide boards with accurate monthly reports, conduct and document annual audits, and file annual reports on time. For residents, the key question is whether their town’s latest report is available and whether board minutes document the review of its books — not whether it appears in an unnamed regional tally.
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