The audited financials show $1.75 million less fund balance in the General Fund than the County’s Annual Financial Report (AFR). The 2025 AFR was submitted to the New York State Comptroller in May of 2025, while the audit of the financial statements was not completed until September 29, 2026.
The audited financial statements show expenditures exceeded revenues in the General Fund by $45,417,824 during the year. This 2025 deficit is attributed primarily to a budgeted transfer from the General Fund to the Capital Projects fund to finance long term capital projects. In 2025, the total fund balance in the General Fund shrank from $180,075,479 to $134,657,655. With the 2025 deficit, the amount of unrestricted fund balance in the General Fund is compliant with the County’s Fund Balance Policy for the first time since the Policy’s adoption.
At the close of 2025, the County had $19,480,279 assigned to fund housing development, including $4,866,885 in the Housing Action Fund, and a $14,613,394 assignment of fund balance in the General Fund. The County has a Health Insurance Fund (covering County employees) and a Worker’s Compensation Pool Fund (covering County employees and employees from other government units). At the close of 2025 the Worker’s Compensation Pool had an accumulated surplus of $16.2 million, and the Health Insurance Fund had surplus of $14.2 million. These growing surpluses suggest the need for ongoing review and evaluation to ensure that rates charged, and benefits offered are appropriately aligned with actual costs.
