State auditor offers to check Chevy center performance

YOUNGSTOWN —Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor is offering the services of her office to conduct a performance audit on the city-owned Chevrolet Centre.

The offer came today, the same day her office released an audit of the city’s 2006 financial statements.

The audit includes only one finding for monetary recovery, which was resolved in June.

It has nine noncompliance citations or findings and 21 recommendations to improve the city’s financial operations.

The performance audit would compare the center with other entertainment/sports facilities and provide recommendations to make the center more cost efficient, Taylor told The Vindicator today.

“It’s an option they can take,” she said. “I think it’s worth discussing with city officials. There has been concern expressed about the operations.”

During its three years of operating, the center has financially struggled, and experienced a complete changeover in management and ticketing.

The center cost $45 million to build with the city borrowing $11.9 million to pay its portion of the building’s construction.

“We are obviously open to anything that would assist with the overall operation of the Chevrolet Centre,” Mayor Jay Williams said of the performance audit. “We’ve had a lot of concerns of our own.”

For the complete story, read Wednesday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com