State Comptroller Said to be “Getting Close” with Fishkill Audit
By Michael Boyajian
The Office of the New York State Comptroller reported today that the office was “getting close” to the conclusion of its audit of the Town of Fishkill’s financial situation and that details are expected to be available next week.
The Town of Fishkill’s finances have been called into question with its request for authority to issue $6.5 million in bonds to cover operating expenses, something the Poughkeepsie Journal has called questionable.
Earlier Moody’s reduced the Town’s financial rating to just above junk bond status. Moody’s is an indicia of the financial health of an organization and junk bond status is considered to indicate poor financial health.
More evidence of the town’s precarious financial situation surfaced earlier this week with the revelation that it was $50,000 in arrears to the City of Beacon. It has since been learned that this long running dispute is now resolved.
The Poughkeepsie Journal has called for scrutiny of Fishkill’s budget process leading some observers to call for a financial oversight board modeled on that used by New York City during its crisis in the 1970s. The oversight board would consist of six members including the governor, the state comptroller, the town supervisor and three independent financial experts. This system worked in New York and it exited its crisis in the early 1980s and enjoys prosperity to this day.
Pundits are unsure of the political fallout from this crisis considering the town’s close ties to the Tea Party movement, a group that detests government deficit spending along the lines of what has happened here in Fishkill.
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