NEW CITY – Rockland County Government’s fiscal stress score has dropped by 21 points, and that decline as rated by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s Office has all but removed the county from the list of most fiscally-stressed local governments.
The higher the rating number, the more critical is a municipality’s fiscal situation.
Rockland’s drop from 2012 and 2013 of 86.7 percent to 65.8 percent in 2014 places the county less than one point from the rating of being moderately fiscally stressed.
County Executive Edwin Day is pleased with the progress.
“We have a long way to travel, but to be at the bottom of the barrel since the inception of the initiation of the stress level system and then jumped over 20 points in the first year of our administration, it just justifies the direction we are going in.”
Day said he continues to “reduce costs through consolidation and efficiency and rebuild our fund balance, while continuing to provide the critical services local residents rely on.”
The county executive said the financial improvement has also been noted by bond rating upgrades from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.
County Legislature Chairman Alden Wolfe also praised the improved status in the DiNapoli financial stress ratings. “This is the result of years of hard work and tough decisions, including obtaining deficit financing and embracing a conservative approach to budgeting,” Wolfe said.
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