Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner: Town receives highest bond rating possible from S&P and Moody's...auditors discuss financial health with town...proposal to improve RFPs.

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.

https://greenburghny.swagit.com/play/09172019-2649

PAUL FEINER