Politics & Government

Rye Brook Board of Trustees Talk Money at Meeting

Board discussed village audit and collection of revenues to date.

The Village of Rye Brook held its first meeting of the year Tuesday. The board's main topic of discussion was the village's financials. Here are the highlights:

Village Audit

John Cosgrove, of the accounting firm O'Connor Davies Munns & Dobbins, presented an overview of the village's audit report for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

The village's total assets are $35.8 million. Its total liabilities are $9.3 million. As of May 2009, the village owes $1.8 million for post employment benefit obligations, which Cosgrove said are the village's highest liability aside from bonds. The village currently has no limit on the amount of vacation time highway employees can accrue. One employee currently has 21 weeks of accrued vacation, according to the auditors' report. The report said "the lack of a limit on vacation accrual will potentially allow for an employee to accumulate very large amounts of vacation time that must be paid (or taken) upon the employee's retirement. This situation can have a serious negative cash impact and financial effect on the village."

Find out what's happening in Ryewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The village's general fund assets are $5 million. It has a total fund balance of $3 million. Mayor Joan Feinstein said a weak economy caused the village to intentionally reduce its fund balance as a percentage of operating revenue. The fund balance is the range of 12 to 15 percent of these revenues. Feinstein said the fund balance would be particularly important during budget season, because the village may have to consider using some of these funds to offset the possible tax burden for residents.

Budget Modifications

The Board of Trustees also discussed modifications to its 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 budgets. The village had to do final close-out transfers for these budget cycles, paying for certain unforeseen services that occurred. The village had transfers into the police department's patrolmen account because of contract settlement from the previous years. It also had to pay $50,000 in police overtime because of an ongoing homicide investigation. The highway maintenance account and consultant accounts also received transfers.

Find out what's happening in Ryewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Financial Update

Village Administrator Chris Bradbury gave an update on the village's financials. He said Rye Brook had received 88 percent of its incoming revenue to date, which is consistent with the prior two years.

Bradbury said mortgage tax payments were lower than expected. The village expected $300,000, but has only received $94,000 so far. Bradbury said sales tax payments were okay, but the village had only received one of four sales tax payments , which it receives as a portion of total sales tax revenue for towns and villages in Westchester.

Bradbury also said retirement benefits would be a concern in the future. In upcoming budget cycles, the village could be paying $250,000 more than previous years because of obligations related to New York State retirement benefits.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here