Ulster County Comptroller March S. Gallagher Announces Additional Transparency Measures Wire Transfer Payment Information to Be Publicly Shared
Kingston, NY (February 2, 2022) –Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher is implementing additional transparency measures for 2022 to make it easier for policy makers and residents to understand County finances. Going forward, the regularly issued Ulster County Taxpayer Checkbook will also include wire transfer payment information which represents most of the total County spending.
“As the Ulster County Comptroller my goal is to increase the transparency of the County’s operations including details about all County expenditures. Our Office implemented a Taxpayer Checkbook and Contract Log in 2020 to regularly share this data with the pubic. Last year, the Taxpayer Checkbook included $156.8 million in payments to vendors and taxing jurisdictions, not even half of the total Ulster County budgeted expenditures for the year. In 2021,Ulster County made $201.1 million in wire transfer payments that were not available to the public in the same detail. Including detailed information about these wire transfers will make all of the taxpayer dollars leaving county coffers fully transparent and easily accessible.”
Ulster County makes a greater sum of payments each year by wire transfer than it does by check. While checks are used to pay vendors and taxing jurisdictions,expenses like payroll, employee benefits, Department of Social Services benefits payments,and several other regular expenditures are typically paid by wire transfer.
In January 2022 Ulster County paid $10.6 million on 1,965 claims to 451 separate vendors and taxing jurisdictions. The County’s largest payments were to the City of Kingston in passthrough taxes and New York State Department of Transportation for overages on a culvert replacement. The Comptroller’s Office approved 92 contracts during the month of January, the largest of which was $1.6 million with Family of Woodstock for emergency shelter and case management services.The County made $13.5million in wire transfers in January including $7.6 million in payroll, $2.0 in employee benefits, $2.1 million in Medicaid expenditures,and another $1.6 million in other expenditures.The Ulster County Taxpayer Checkbook, Wire Transfer Log and Contract Log can be found on the Comptroller’s website downloadable, searchable, and easily analyzable format. This data is updated monthly.
