Data & Sources
Every number on Open Elmira comes from a public document. Here is exactly where each one
comes from — assessment rolls, state-comptroller filings, audited financial reports, and
the city–county records behind the sales-tax story.
Our commitment to open data
All source documents used by this site are publicly available. We link directly to the
originals — no paywalls, no sign-ins — and keep local archival copies of documents that
tend to disappear from government portals. If you find an error, a newer filing, or a source
we missed, please
let us know.
This page is updated every time the site's underlying data changes.
The backbone of the property-tax pages: every parcel in Chemung County, its assessed and
taxable value, property class, and location.
Dataset: 7vem-aaz7 |
Roll years: 2021–2025 |
Publisher: NYS Office of Real Property Tax Services
Parcel-level assessment data for every municipality in New York. Open Elmira uses the
2025 roll for current analysis and 2021–2025 for trend analysis. Place names are resolved
from SWIS codes (the state's six-digit
municipality IDs, more reliable than the raw municipality field) so villages are split
from their parent
towns. Fetched via scripts/download_data.py. For the all-parcels map, each
parcel’s NYS ORPTS property-class
code (the state's what-is-this-property code) is grouped into a broad category
(scripts/visualize.py): specific codes are named against the roll’s own
property_class_description, and any code not individually named falls back to
its NYS class family (leading digit — 100s agricultural, 300s vacant land, 600s community
& institutional, 800s utilities, 900s forest & conservation, etc.) so every parcel
is classified rather than dumped into a generic “Other.”
Coverage: Chemung County, 2018–2025 |
Publisher: NYS Office of Real Property Tax Services
Recorded real-property transfers with sale price, date, and property class at sale. The
regressivity / J-curve analysis uses the 6,491 arm's-length single-family
(class 210) sales, comparing each sale price to the parcel's assessed value. Stored as
data/raw/SaleswebExtract.csv.
Joined by: parcel print key | Roll year: 2025
Lot acreage per parcel, joined to the assessment roll for the value-per-acre ("tax miles
per gallon") analysis. Stored as data/processed/parcel_acres.csv.
Built by:
scripts/visualize_*.py (each writes one JSON via scripts/chart_json.py)
The interactive charts on the property-tax pages read these small JSON files directly — the
same client-side ECharts approach as the budget explorers. Each is derived only from the
assessment roll, sales, and acreage data above. Regenerate any of them by running its script
(e.g. python scripts/visualize_jcurve.py); pass --png to instead
rebuild the legacy matplotlib images.
The data behind the City Budget Explorer,
County Budget Overview, and
City–County Relationship pages. Line-item revenues and
expenditures filed annually with the State Comptroller; General Fund = account-code prefix “A”.
Entities: City of Elmira (1995–2025), County of Chemung & peers (2013–2024) |
Publisher: Office of the NY State Comptroller
Every NY local government files an Annual Update Document of line-item financials. Open
Elmira compiles these into compact JSON for the in-browser budget explorers via
scripts/build_budget_json.py. Sales tax is account A1110 (county-retained)
and A1120 (city-received); property tax is A1001. Expenditures drill to the object level
(salaries, benefits, contractual, equipment) from the AUD’s object-of-expenditure field.
The AUD records property tax as a single levy with no payer detail, so the explorer’s
property-tax drill (residential / commercial / industrial / utility) is sourced from the
ORPTS assessment roll instead — see below.
Series: CUUR0000SA0 (U.S. city average, all items, 1982-84=100), annual average, 1995–2025 |
Publisher: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Used purely as an inflation yardstick. The budget explorer’s “Which Costs Actually Grew”
chart indexes each General Fund spending function to 1995 = 100 and overlays CPI-U
so a reader can see which functions outran inflation (grew in real terms) versus merely
kept pace. Annual-average values are stored in scripts/build_budget_json.py
(CPI_U_ANNUAL) and emitted into city-budget.json as
realTrends.
Built by: scripts/build_budget_json.py
The browser charts read these directly — no server required. Each is a small, inspectable
JSON file derived from the OSC source documents above — with one cross-reference:
city-budget.json also draws on the NYS ORPTS assessment roll to split the
city property-tax levy by who pays it (apportioned by each property class’s share of the
city-taxable base, 2021–2025), and on the BLS CPI-U (above) for the inflation-indexed
spending-by-function trend (realTrends).
Source documents for the shared-services dispute (Resolution 15-114) and the sales-tax-share
figures. Some primary documents are still being sourced — flagged below.
Dated: October 6, 2025 | By: City of Elmira (presented to the Chemung County Legislature)
The city's own analysis of its falling sales-tax share (12.33% in 2014 → 8.167% in 2024),
the growing countywide pool (~$58.8M → ~$71.9M), and the ~$22.8M cumulative loss since 2015.
We validated the city's reported receipts to the dollar against OSC account A1120 (2014–2024).
The relationship page's “pool by recipient” Sankey is reconstructed independently from OSC
county filings — collection (A1110), distribution to municipalities (A19854), and the city's
receipts (A1120) — splitting the 2024 pool into county-retained, towns & villages, and city.
Published: 2017 | Publisher: Chemung County | 16 pages
The county's own shared-services report — the authoritative description of each shared program,
including the 2015 DPW/streets terms ($2M city payment year 1, county absorbing +$400K/yr),
the 2016 buildings & grounds merger, the 2009 IT agreement, and the Treasurer/sales-tax history.
Dated: June 30, 2025 | From: Chemung County Attorney's Office
Formal notice terminating the February 15, 2015 DPW Shared Service Agreement, effective
December 31, 2025 — the move that reopened the shared-services dispute.
Dated: September 24, 2025 | From: County Executive Chris Moss
A detailed June–September 2025 timeline of the dispute, with the disputed DPW figures (salary
$986,631 + fringe $487,000) and the county's proposed four-year, 25%-per-year takeback offer.
Meeting: October 2, 2025 | Source: citizenportal.ai (AI-generated summary)
An AI-generated summary of the legislature's October 2, 2025 discussion. It
corroborates that Resolution 15-114 is the 2015 shared-services resolution and
lists all five bundled services. Used as a research lead only — not an audited primary
source; the official minutes are still being obtained (see below).
Status: being obtained via the county legislative clerk / city clerk
The original resolution text and the countersigned Public Works Shared Service Agreement
are not yet in hand. Figures on the relationship page come from the city's October 2025
presentation cross-checked against OSC data; this entry will be updated when the primary
documents are obtained.
The primary source for the Fiscal Decoder's balance-sheet and
net-position figures. Published by the City Chamberlain's Office at
cityofelmirany.gov.
Year covered: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025 | Expected: Summer/Fall 2026
Not yet posted to the City's DocumentCenter as of June 2026. A sweep of all DocumentCenter
IDs confirmed no city financial report beyond doc ID 1145 (FY2024). Expected 6–9 months
after fiscal year end.
Year covered: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024 |
Auditor: Insero & Co. CPAs, LLP (Ithaca, NY)
Primary source for FY2024 figures, including restated FY2023 comparison data (GASB 101).
Year covered: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023 |
Published: June 28, 2024 |
Auditor: Insero & Co. CPAs, LLP
Source for FY2023 (as-originally-reported) and FY2022 comparison data. FY2023 figures were
later restated in the FY2024 report.
Year covered: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2021 |
Auditor: Insero & Co. CPAs, LLP |
Retrieved from: MSRB EMMA
Source for FY2021 and FY2020 comparison data. Obtained from the MSRB EMMA continuing-disclosure
portal (not on the City DocumentCenter). Net position turned briefly positive on $14M of
federal ARPA/SLFRF receipts.
Year covered: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2020 |
Report dated: Aug 24, 2021 |
Retrieved from: MSRB EMMA
Source for FY2020 figures. Reflects a deep unrestricted deficit (−$45.1M) and $16.3M net
pension liability before later market gains.
EURA is a discretely presented component unit of the City — not included in
the government-wide figures used by the decoder. Archived here for completeness.
Auditor: Insero & Co. CPAs, LLP
CPA-issued audited financial statements for EURA (text-based PDFs).
Internal EURA annual reports (scanned image PDFs), separate from the CPA-audited reports above.
110-page line-item worksheet with FY2020–2024 actuals plus 2025 proposed figures — useful
for filling historical gaps between audited ACFRs.
Dated: February 21, 2025 | Prepared by: Fiscal Advisors & Marketing, Inc.
Official Statement for a $4M TAN with month-by-month 2025 cash-flow projections, 2024 monthly
actuals, debt ratios, and Water Board financials 2019–2023.
Adopted: February 10, 2026
Adopted 2026 General Fund worksheet with FY2021–2024 actuals, the FY2025 amended budget, and
FY2026 adopted figures by line item.
Published: June 2016
Independent fiscal review (~2013–2015) documenting the structural deficit and pension
obligations that still define Elmira's picture. Also the source for the city's NYS
tax-rate ranking cited on the homepage.
Published: August 28, 2007
The legal architecture behind the
Water Board page. Holds
that Charter § 166-o lets the City Council request the Board's surplus, but that the
Water Board — not the City — determines the amount, and the city cannot
amend the charter to force it (the Board is a state-created "body corporate"). Records that
the Board had recently denied a city surplus request.
Enacted: 1913 / re-enacted 1950 (as amended)
The governing law behind the
Water Board page. Sets the
commissioner elections (§ 166-b — a city-run June special election, taxpayer-only franchise),
$75/meeting compensation (§ 166-a), removal for cause (§ 166-d), the surplus / "fair return"
language (§ 166-o), the city's deficiency backstop (§ 166-s), and the tax exemption (§ 166-u).
Source: City Council minutes, resolutions 2024-208 & 2025-171
The certified vote counts behind the turnout figures on the
Water Board page:
8 votes cast in 2024
(Martin Chalk, unopposed) and
24 in 2025 (Steve McNamara, unopposed), from
the inspector-of-election certificates the City Council formally accepted.
Published: 2025–2026 (fiscal year ending Dec 31, 2025)
The audited GAAP statements behind the
Water Board page:
$41.4M net position ($7.9M unrestricted, up $934K), $744,190 change in net position, and
the $236,946/yr in real estate taxes the Board pays outside the city. The OSC AUD water
enterprise-fund series (line EW8029) matches these figures to the dollar. Includes the
Board's letter to the Mayor and Council.
Published: 2020
Follow-up to a 2017 audit of Elmira's financial management and fiscal health.
Published: 2013
Pre-2013 structured financial indicators for historical context.
Created by: Strong Towns | License: Free to copy and adapt
The analytic framework behind the
Fiscal Decoder — a spreadsheet
tool mapping ACFR data to seven fiscal-health indicators across Sustainability, Flexibility,
and Vulnerability.
Source Update Log
-
2026-07-04
Correction — the Water Board's parcel footprint was undercounted.
The Water Board page's "what it pays" section originally
counted only parcels titled "Elmira Water Board," which understated the system by
about half and left the audited $236,946 in suburban real-estate taxes un-reconcilable.
Per City Charter § 166-n the Board acquires property "in the name of the City of
Elmira," so much of the system — including the filtration plant at 1 Fountain Dr
($9.8M) — is on the roll under "City of Elmira." Counting the water-infrastructure classes
under both owner names: the exempt in-city infrastructure is ~$19.65M (not
$9.56M), the taxable suburban base is $6.26M (not $4.05M), and the audited
tax reconciles at a normal ~$37.9/$1,000. The parcel query in
scripts/build_budget_json.py was updated accordingly and
water-board.json regenerated.
-
2026-07-04
Water Board page — added the charter and election-turnout records.
Archived the Elmira Water Board
charter (Article X-A) and the certified 2025
and 2024
election canvasses. These document a striking, underreported fact now on the
Water Board page: the board's commissioners are elected in a
city-run June special election in which only City resident taxpayers on the
assessment roll may vote, and recent races drew just 8 votes (2024) and 24
votes (2025), both unopposed. The charter also fixes an earlier gap — commissioner
pay is set at $75/meeting (§ 166-a), not "undisclosed."
-
2026-07-03
New page: The Water Board. Added The
Water Board (under the Elmira nav group) — an investigation of the city-owned Elmira
Water Board's surplus, its unused fair-return mechanism, and the live dispute over it.
New primary sources catalogued: the NY
Attorney General's 2007 opinion on the city charter and the
Water Board's 2025
audited statements. The chart and parcel figures are generated into
water-board.json by scripts/build_budget_json.py from the OSC
water enterprise-fund lines (EW8029/EW628/EW99019) and the 2025 assessment roll; the
net-position series is asserted equal to the audited statements at build time. The "City"
nav group was renamed "Elmira."
-
2026-07-02
Strong Towns page retired — a correction. The page's headline
metric (assessed value per foot of street frontage) did not support its claim: downtown
row buildings ($2,525/ft) and shopping centers ($2,574/ft, n=5) are statistically tied,
because a big-box parcel's internal parking and drives never front a public street —
the metric flattered exactly what the page argued against. Rather than keep it, we
retired the page (it redirects to Tax Value per Acre, where
the per-acre framing makes the argument correctly). The defensible charts (value per
square foot of lot; retailer land-share) moved there; the top-10 property lists moved
to the City of Elmira page and now cover city
parcels only.
strong-towns.json was renamed
land-productivity.json. Also split the Employee Benefits chart's look-alike
band colors.
-
2026-07-02
Top-10 lists now generated; benefits deep-dive added.
The "Top 10 by Assessed Value" list on the Strong Towns page is now generated
directly from the 2025 assessment roll (
topProperties in
strong-towns.json, built by scripts/visualize.py) instead of
hand-maintained — this corrected one error: the Horseheads Real Prop LLC warehouse
(120 Wygant Rd, $23.2M) is exempt on the county roll, so 7 of the top 10 are
exempt, not 6. Added a companion "Top 10 by taxable value" list. On the city budget
page, added an "Inside Employee Benefits" chart: OSC child accounts normalized across
the 2013 renaming ("Hospital & Medical (dental) Ins" → "Hospital", "Police &
Firemen Retirement" → "Police Retirement", etc.) into five buckets via a mapping table
in scripts/build_budget_json.py; the build verifies the buckets sum to the
published Employee Benefits total every year.
-
2026-07-01
Plain-language pass. Added a site-wide
glossary (tap any dotted-underlined term for a definition;
glossary.js is the single source for all definitions), rewrote the densest
explanatory passages (equalization rate, audited-accounting terms, tax certiorari),
expanded shorthand in chart axis labels, and re-worded the map legends
("changed owners" instead of "transferred", etc.). No data, numbers, or
sources changed — wording only; the three affected maps were regenerated
from the same 2025 roll.
-
2026-06-28
Stage 2 chart retrofit. Replaced the pre-rendered matplotlib
images on the property-tax pages (Regressivity, Value per Acre, Trends, Elmira fiscal
health, Frozen-With-Exceptions, Strong Towns) with interactive ECharts driven by JSON.
Documented the NYS ORPTS SalesWeb sales and parcel-acreage sources, and added the six
derived chart-data files (
jcurve / per-acre / trends / elmira-fiscal / equity /
strong-towns .json), each built by its scripts/visualize_*.py.
-
2026-06-26
Added direct links to the city–county source documents: the City's Oct 6 2025
sales-tax presentation (County CivicClerk + local copy), and the county-side records as
individual cards — the 2017 Shared Services Report, the June 30 2025 DPW termination notice,
the Sept 24 2025 timeline letter (each with its official Chemung County DocumentCenter link
and a local copy), and the Oct 2 2025 legislature meeting summary (research note).
-
2026-06-26
Rebrand to Open Elmira. Added City Budget Explorer, County Budget
Overview, and City–County Relationship pages driven by a new OSC line-item pipeline
(
scripts/build_budget_json.py → data/*.json). Consolidated all
data sources onto this central page; the old decoder/sources.html now redirects here.
-
2026-06-25
Added City of Elmira FY2020 and FY2021 audited reports from MSRB EMMA; extended the
decoder to a five-year series (FY2020–2024).
-
2026-06-25
Archived EURA reports (FY2023–2025), the 2025 Budget Worksheet, the 2025 TAN Official
Statement, and the 2026 Adopted Budget worksheet.
-
2026-06-25
Initial decoder build: FY2022–2024 audited financials, FRB 2016 review, OSC audit
follow-up (2020), OSC fiscal profile (2013).