New York state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli September 24 announced the 2019 fiscal stress scores for municipalities statewide. In the report, 22 local governments in New York were designated in fiscal stress, according to the Fiscal Stress Monitoring System. The scores were based on financial data submitted to the state by governments operating on the calendar year in 2019, which includes all counties and towns, 44 cities and 10 villages, according to a press release. “We’ve been closely tracking the trends and common problems that communities in fiscal stress are facing. Now the economic damage caused by the pandemic has dramatically altered the fiscal landscape, and many communities are struggling to provide critical services and pay their bills,” DiNapoli said. The just-released report scores municipalities on a scale of zero to 100 with the lower the score the better. Locally, Columbia County, the villages of Catskill and Coxsackie received a rating of "Susceptible to Fiscal Stress." It is the fifth straight year the Village of Catskill has made the list. The villages of Chatham and Hunter, and the towns of Cairo, Durham, Greenville and Lexington failed to file an annual financial report or reported inconclusive data, so a fiscal stress score could not be calculated. Columbia County, the city of Hudson, the towns of Canaan, New Baltimore and Stuyvesant, as well as the villages of Coxsackie and Philmont were noted to be "Susceptible to Environmental Stress." Environmental risk factors include high poverty rates, depressed home values, declining household incomes and high unemployment rates. Read more at OSC [dot] state [dot] ny [dot] us.