January 1, 2026
State Comptroller Tom Dinapoli has released an audit about the Steuben County Legislature. The report says that county officials did not effectively manage the County’s fund balance. The comptrollers office says as a result, as of December 31, 2024, the County maintained unrestricted fund balance in the general fund totaling $103.4 million (48 percent of the upcoming year’s budget) and in the road fund totaling $15.5 million (53 percent of the upcoming year’s budget). Dinapoli also says that the Legislature did not have an adequate fund balance policy or develop and adopt comprehensive, written multiyear financial or capital plans.
The county responded to the audit, saying that while the county appreciates these recommendations and has implemented them, steuben county respectfully disagrees with the audit’s sole finding that county officials did not effectively manage fund balance. Steuben County also says, the state’s audit did not take the pandemic into consideration. County officials maintain that Covid was a major stress factor on county operations.
