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Tug Hill Commission Offering Budget and Accounting
Training Workshop for Town Officials June 18th and 19th
Published: April 30, 2026 at
11:00 a.m.
By: Press Release
from NYS Tug Hill Commission
Budget and Accounting for Town Officials Training
June 18 and 19, Altmar
WATERTOWN, NEW
YORK –The Tug Hill Commission is providing a two-day workshop on financial
requirements and regulations for town governments. Instructor Laird Petrie
will provide comprehensive training on requirements and regulations related
to budgeting and accounting on Thursday, June 18 and Friday, June 19 at the
Tailwater Lodge, 52 Pulaski Street, Altmar,
13302. Although this training is designed to meet the unique budgeting and
accounting needs of towns, much of what will be covered will also be
applicable to the budgeting and accounting needs of villages.
The cost is $125
per person, which includes morning coffee and lunch on the first day, a
light breakfast and lunch on the second day, and printed materials.
Register at www.tughill.org/upcoming-workshops . Credit card
payments are taken online, with an option to send a check or voucher as
well. Spots are limited so register early and no later than June 10, 2026.
No refunds.
Prior to retiring
in 2021, Laird worked as a municipal auditor for the Office of the State
Comptroller (OSC) in Syracuse for 27 years, where he conducted and
supervised audits of local governments and school districts in an
eight-county region of Central NY. Laird served as the technical assistance
coordinator and conducted numerous training sessions for both OSC staff and
local officials. Before joining OSC, Laird worked as a Tug Hill Commission
circuit rider in the 1990's for a 14-town council of governments and
attended town board meetings and provided training and technical assistance
when requested. Since retirement Laird has provided technical assistance
and training to towns and villages in a four-county area through a contract
with the Tug Hill Commission.
NYS laws require
local governments to adopt annual budgets that establish appropriations as
a means of providing control over amounts that may be expended. OSC
requires local governments to utilize an accounting system that provides
for the integration of the annual budget into accounting records to provide
control over authorized expenditures. In addition, local government
accounting systems must be operated on a fund basis allowing for a
segregation of
revenues and expenditures intended to carry on specific governmental
activities or attain certain objectives in accordance with special
regulations, restrictions or limitations. For these reasons, it is
imperative that officials responsible for developing budgets and
maintaining accounting records are knowledgeable about these regulations
and restrictions.
Because towns
often contain villages and special districts within their boundaries which
constitute separate tax bases, their budgets and accounting systems are
significantly more complex than that of other local governments. Accounting
schools offered by OSC are open to officials from all classes of local
governments and school districts and therefore these schools adopt a
“one-size fits all” approach to teach budgeting and accounting to attendees
that generally have vastly different budgeting and accounting requirements.
As a result, it is difficult for instructors to focus on the needs of one
type of local government such as a town. This two-day training is designed
specifically to address the unique budgeting and accounting needs of towns.
Due to the large
amount of material that will be presented and the short amount of time
available to present it in, attendees should possess a basic knowledge of
double-entry accounting. However, upon registering for this training, basic
double-entry accounting reference material can be provided in advance of
the training to assist in obtaining this prerequisite. A more comprehensive
training manual will be provided to all attendees
at the beginning of the training.
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The New York
State Tug Hill Commission is a non-regulatory state agency charged with
helping local governments, organizations, and citizens shape the future of
the region, especially its environment and economy. The commission uses a
grassroots approach to build local capacity and provide technical
assistance in land use planning, community development, and natural
resource management.
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