Stop underestimating the people of your city Mary.

I downloaded the report from the state comptrollers office, what a mess.

This is all quite misleading. On the face of it, yes, it seems to look like something, but upon downloading the report and reading it in its entirety, Peekskill's picture is not at all rosy. It's also important to note that this is not an actual audit, and all of the information is submitted by local governments via an electronic form. While it's true that Peekskill's stress indicator was 24.2% in 2012, it is also true that our economic stress level rose from 8.3% in 2010. That is a 15% increase. Additionally, the State projects a level of 29.4% for 2013. The simple fact is that Peekskill is trending downward.

The reporting does not take into account the following: Decreased services, decreased Maintenance on city-owned properties and infrastructure, Personnel layoffs, decreased benefits for city employees, and more. The total fund balance is decreasing, and will continue to decrease this year, with very little hope for next year under the current administration. 

Tax receivables are going down, and revenues are almost stagnant. Environmental indicators also show that property values are continuing to going down in Peekskill, even though they are rising in many other places.

It's also important to understand that not spending money doesn't mean you're making money, and that's where this report comes up very short. It is, by any real standard, a poor way to measure metrics. What it is good for is waving it around telling folks that you're doing a good job when really YOU ARE NOT.