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Girard officials: Books balanced
By Karl Henkel
GIRARD
Officials say the city’s books are balanced, and they will move Monday to request the state release Girard from fiscal emergency for the first time in more than a decade.
The city ended 2011 with a $600,000 surplus in its $4.9 million general fund.
That figure includes $175,000 borrowed from the general fund to cover the city’s water fund.
Girard had been in fiscal emergency since Aug. 8, 2001, and had a $700,000 surplus in 2006. But after Indalex Aluminum Solutions closed in 2008, taking with it 300 jobs, the city had to regroup.
Girard had worked diligently since early 2010 on a plan to escape fiscal emergency, said Councilman Frank Migliozzi, D-1st.
“This was a big part of the plan,” he said.
City council also fronted plans to purchase four new police vehicles.
The purchases will replace more than four of the city’s 15 police vehicles, which includes 12 cruisers and three undercover vehicles.
Council plans to host two special meetings — at 8 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday in the police roll-call room — in order to meet quorum requirements and gather the necessary votes to make the purchases.
The city first will buy three 2012 Chevrolet Impalas and one 2012 Chevrolet Tahoe at a total cost of approximately $138,000.
It then will look to accumulate another $138,000 to purchase another four new police vehicles, said Girard Mayor James Melfi.
The vehicles will replace 1996 Chevrolet Caprices and Tahoes.
Council also passed a resolution opposing a water-quality standards limit that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is trying to place upon the city of Warren.