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City of Elmira 'susceptible to fiscal stress,' state comptroller says. Elmira Star-Gazette Sept. 29, 2026, 5:07 a.m. ET * The New York State Comptroller's Office has again identified the City of Elmira as being susceptible to fiscal stress. * Factors contributing to the city's financial strain include rising health insurance and retirement costs. * The city's 2026 budget included a 6% property tax increase and used over $900,000 from surplus funds to balance. The state Comptroller's Office is sending up red flags about the City of Elmira's financial health - again. The Comptroller's Office released its annual list of municipalities statewide that are under fiscal stress or at risk for financial difficulty, and the City of Elmira is among them. The report breaks down the municipalities into three categories, those facing significant fiscal stress, those experiencing moderate stress, and those susceptible to fiscal stress. Elmira is in the latter category, as it was last year, and is among eight municipalities ranked as being susceptible to fiscal stress. The ranking is based on a fiscal score greater than 45, calculated using both financial indicators such as fund balances, operating surpluses or deficits, and fixed costs, and environmental indicators such as population, poverty and employment. Using those guidelines, Elmira's overall score for the fiscal year 2025 was 53.8, compared to 47.1 for 2024. It's environmental rating in last year's report was moderate, while this year's designation was significant. "Every year we have to file a budget report. They're looking at expenditures, revenues, fund balances," said Elmira Mayor Dan Mandell. "Ours (fund balance) is dwindling. The smaller it gets the more stress the city will experience." The City Council in January approved a nearly $46.7 million 2026 budget that included a 6% property tax increase and more than $900,000 taken out of surplus funds to balance the spending plan. There are several reasons the city has had to dip into its fund balance, Mandell said. Among the factors were increases in health insurance costs and retirement benefits, and changes Chemung County made in the way sales tax revenue is distributed, he said. "The state cut (pension) contributions by employees. That's $1 million more a year we have to pay," Mandell said. "That's a big impact on us." The new Rural King retail outlet that opened last week on Elmira's Southside will provide a boost to sales tax revenue, Mandell said, as will a planned new travel center on Church Street when it opens. Otherwise, the city is trying to cut corners wherever it can, he added. Despite its struggles, Elmira is in better shape than the municipalities on the significant stress list, including the Village of New Hempstead in Rockland County with a fiscal score of 86.7, or the City of Albany with an 85.0 fiscal score. But Mandell said the outlook doesn't look promising for most communities unless some changes are made. "New York has got to change the way it does business," he said. "Otherwise all upstate municipalities will go down the tubes." The full fiscal stress report is available online at osc.ny.gov.

Rural King celebrates official grand opening in Elmira. Posted: Sep 25, 2026 / 04:29 PM EDT Updated: Sep 25, 2026 / 04:29 PM EDT ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) - Elmiras' new Rural King store has been up and running for a few weeks but officially had its grand opening. There were a variety of local vendors, elected officials, and the owner of Rural King. Rural King sells a variety of items that include guns, ammunition, dog food, clothes, tools, and much more. "Well, it's awesome because it's got everything you wanna have in one place," said Marie Baunan, a Rural King customer. "From food to clothes to dog supplies I'm excited because it's very busy it makes you really wanna check everything out and we love it." "Oh, mercy they got a lot of stuff I don't know how to explain it they just got a lot of stuff it's fun," said Judy Eberle, a Rural King customer. "They got stuff I never knew they had its fun its gonna take a while to get used to it." The owner of Rural King said the company picked Elmira for a reason, and it hires local. "A lot of rural customers and just a great area you know all of our numbers said we could do great business here and serve a lot of customers so that's why," said Alex Melvin, the Owner of Rural King. "To join into the community and not be a part of it that would be crazy right, so I think it's just common sense we always try to use local folks." The new Rural King is the first store in New York State. It operated more than 150 stores throughout the Midwest and Southern United States. According to the City of Elmira Mayor Dan Mandell, the store is expected to bring in $20 million in revenue each year.

'Awesome prices.' Rural King opens first New York location in Elmira. Illinois-based retailer Rural King held a grand opening ceremony Friday, Sept. 25 for its new store at the former Tops Friendly Market site in Elmira. Elmira Star-Gazette Sept. 25, 2026, 3:02 p.m. ET An Illinois-based farm and home retailer chose Elmira to make its New York state debut, and when its new store officially opened Friday, people couldn't wait to see what all the buzz was about. Rural King Farm and Home Store, founded in 1960 in Matoon, Illinois and still headquartered there, held a ribbon-cutting and grand opening ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 25 for its latest outlet at 299 S. Main St. in Elmira, the former Tops Friendly Markets plaza. Local officials, business leaders and others gathered in front of the building - vacant since Tops closed that location in 2018 - for the occasion, which featured third-generation Rural King owner and Chairman Alex Melvin. Rural King has more than 160 outlets in 18 states, including Pennsylvania. When looking for new areas to expand, Elmira looked like a perfect fit, Melvin said. "We saw an opportunity with the building here, and we plugged the numbers into our data, and it said that we could do really good business in this market, and you know they didn't lie," he said. "The numbers were right and we got a lot of great rural Americans that need our supplies, and response has been great." Rural King isn't just a farm store, Melvin said. It carries everything from sporting goods and power tools to products for livestock and pets, he said. "We've got everything that you could imagine. Even for those that live in town, we've got a great lawn and garden section for the springtime," Melvin said. "We've got birdseed, we've got guns and ammo, we've got dog food, we've got feed, we've got workwear and clothing. "It's a rural America store for not just those that live in the country but those that live in rural America in towns," he said. "So come on down. We've got awesome prices." While Melvin believes Rural King is a perfect fit for Elmira, local officials enthusiastically agree. "They came right in and cleaned this place up. I've been inside. It's amazing," said Elmira Mayor Dan Mandell, who said the new store is expected to have at least 60 employees. "Taking a building that's been vacant for years and putting it back online, it's huge for our community," added Joseph Roman, president of Southern Tier Economic Growth. "Everybody lined up to help this project." Hundreds of shoppers poured into the new Rural King outlet after the grand opening ceremony to check out the wide variety of items. Among the consumers was Dave Miller, of Waverly, who was excited to hear Rural King was coming to Elmira. "We've been to them before. They have some stores in Pa. We were in one a while ago," Miller said. "It's good they're coming in here. Their prices are good. They do have a lot of good things."