KINGSTON – The annual independent
audit of Ulster County government indicates the county ended 2016 in sound
financial shape, county Commissioner of Finance Burt Gulnick said on Wednesday.
He credited the administration of County Executive Michael Hein with “strong fiscal management, efficient personnel practices and sound budgeting principals” as the reasons for the positive outlook.
Unanticipated one-shot revenues helped end the year in good shape and Gulnick said it is too soon to know how this year will end.
“2017 is still very early on to see where we will end up,” Gulnick said. “I will say without those one-shots in ’16, we would probably have ended up in the red.”
Those one-shots included the state’s three-year reconciliation of Social Services claims and tobacco proceeds from a refinancing of bonds.
The county’s unappropriated fund balance grew by $4.5 million from 2015 levels bringing the total unassigned general fund balance to $25.3 million.
