Update: the financial state of the town of Greenburgh. Moody's
& Standard & Poor's gave us their highest rating again! Triple
A... Our auditors presented the Town Board with a report...proposal to
improve RFPs.
Earlier this week the Greenburgh Town Board met with our auditors,
PKF O'Connor Davies. They presented us with their report which can be
viewed -link below:
They praised the town for Receiving the Certificate of Achievement
for Excellence in Financial Reporting for 26 consecutive years. They
indicated that only about 2% of their clients have achieved this
rating. They praised the town for receiving a Aaa
rating from Moody's since 2010 "obligations are judged to be of the
highest quality, subject to the lowest level of credit risk." Standard
& Poor's has given us their highest rating: AAA since 2008
"obligator's capacity to meet its financial commitments on
the obligation is extremely strong."
Received a no designation fiscal stress rating from the NYS
Comptroller's office in 2016. Issued report to those charged with
governance: Management letter. No material weaknesses noted.
Yesterday S & P awarded us their AAA rating. Quoting from
their comments: "strong management with good financial policies and
practices under our financial management assessment
methodology"...."strong budgetary performance, with operating surpluses
in
the general fund"..."very strong budgetary flexibility"..."very strong
liquidity"...:weak debt and contingent liability position"..."strong
institutional framework score." "We expect relatively high tax base
growth should continue over the next two years."
Moody's gave us their Aaa rating. They indicated that the rating
"reflect the town's affluent and sizeable tax base, ample financial
position with strong fiscal management, low debt profile and manageable
pension liability."
GOING FORWARD
We are looking for ways to make government even more efficient. A
suggestion was made that I support (see video link below) to create a
citizens panel to review request for proposals before they are issued to
make sure that when we go out to bid that
the maximum number of businesses submit bids. This past Monday I met
with colleagues -other Town Supervisors and discussed a problem that
we're all experiencing. There are times that only one company bids,
despite our efforts. This happens infrequently but
has happened at times. Richard Savino, who speaks at the beginning of
the Town Board work session, suggests an RFP steering committee,
devoted to development of RFPs in a more streamlined fashion to maximize
competition, in order to realize substantial cost
savings for the town, and for contract performance. Richard has 40 years
experience in the procurement field, both in the private sector and
government. the goal: the best work product possible. The procurement
committee would include a technical type, finance
type, town staff. Another recommendation: that entire RFPs be posted on
the town website. One issue that has to be worked out: if an RFP is
posted and later modified, we need to figure out a way to reach those
who relied on the website posting. This will be
discussed by the Town Board.
PAUL FEINER
.jpg)
