State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office released its latest fiscal stress rankings last week.

Don’t look to see Jamestown, Fredonia or Dunkirk on the lists though. They didn’t file the required reports in time to be included in the rankings. Those who pay attention to local budgets know the news isn’t good for Dunkirk, which is getting by on loans from the state while staving off a financial control board by the skin of its teeth. Fredonia’s village budget approved in April came with a 65% tax increase. Jamestown, meanwhile, is in the best shape of the three but preemptively passed a tax cap override earlier this year in recognition of the fact it’s likely that the budget Mayor Kim Ecklund proposes in a few days will exceed the state’s 2% tax cap.

We’ve said it before, and it remains as true now as it did then, but DiNapoli’s fiscal stress rankings have the potential to be a useful tool for taxpayers. They just aren’t there yet. We have disagreed in the past with the formula the rankings use to determine fiscal stress. That hasn’t changed. But the rankings are also toothless. Because there are no penalties for not filing the documentation the Comptroller’s Office requires, many municipalities simply choose not to participate in the process. Jamestown, where there is near constant stress over the budget each year, hasn’t filed since 2021 while Fredonia hasn’t filed since 2023. It gets worse. Dunkirk hasn’t filed since 2018 while the village of Bemus Point hasn’t filed since 2015.

What often happens in these cases is audits aren’t finished on time, which means the records aren’t available to send to DiNapoli. That has happened in both Jamestown and Dunkirk’s case. In Jamestown’s case Ericka Thomas, the city’s comptroller, has been digging out from the rubble of a comptroller’s office that was rudderless for nearly two years. Dunkirk had its own issues when it came to bookkeeping and financial records. Let those instances be a lesson. An inability, or an unwillingness, to meet DiNapoli’s deadline should show City Councils, town or village boards that at the very least there is an issue with their bookkeepers. If a government isn’t filing with DiNapoli, the elected boards should want to know why and remedy the situation before it gets out of hand.

“A municipality that fails to file its financial reports in time to receive a fiscal stress score may indicate a lack of proper financial management, prevent local officials from taking necessary steps to avoid a fiscal crisis, and diminish transparency and accountability, undermining public confidence,” DiNapoli’s office said last week.

Mayor Kim Ecklund has been forthcoming with the city’s financial issues, but DiNapoli’s worst case scenario is playing out in Dunkirk. A mess that was years in the making has erupted over the past 18 months. Could yearly filings with the Comptroller’s Office have helped avoid the financial iceberg Dunkirk hit this year? It’s possible.