Reports

This report is a summary of the costs related to responding to the pandemic that the Ulster County Comptroller’s Office was able to aggregate from existing reported financial and personnel data for 2020. The County continues to incur substantial costs in the current year 2021, many of which are offset by pandemic related revenue streams, such as the cost of operating vaccination clinics. We have reviewed the 2020 expenditures to assist in both improving the accounting for these costs and potentially identifying and obtaining revenues to offset these costs.

The Comptroller’s Office surveyed Ulster residents on potential uses of the American Rescue Plan funds. The survey was promoted on social media from March 24 through May 3, 2021, and in electronic newsletters to the Comptroller’s Office distribution lists. Two hundred and twelve people responded. Respondents were provided with 14 potential options for the use of funds and asked to grade each on a score of 1 to 10.

This snapshot presents a summary of pandemic-related impacts to 30 of the Agency's major programs and projects at the end of fiscal year 2020 with an estimated impact of approximately $1.6 billion of the $3 billion total in COVID impact reported by NASA.

The objective for this management advisory report was to monitor and assess how the company is using CARES Act funds and the controls it has in place to accurately account for and report on them. The company experienced a sharp drop in ridership and passenger revenues in March 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The company’s response included aggressive cost-cutting actions such as cancelling some of its train service and reducing management pay and retirement benefits. Despite these actions, the company projected that revenues would still not cover its reduced costs and requested...