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Liberty police budget worries fiscal officer
LIBERTY
The township’s fiscal officer says he will analyze the police department’s budget to make sure it is not going to run out of money by Jan. 31.
Fiscal Officer Steve Shelton told the township trustees at their meeting Monday the police fund had $227,631 as of Nov. 30, compared with $259,038 through Nov. 30 last year.
Martha Weirick, township administrative secretary, said police cashed in an 80-hour holiday pay in November in addition to their regular pays.
Shelton said, however, that the $31,407 difference concerns him, and he wants to make sure the department does not run into a deficit before the township is eligible to collect tax anticipation money from the county Jan. 31.
“They had $200,000 in expenditures for November,” he said. “There is $227,000 there now, and they have to get through the month of January.”
The fire department, which Shelton had warned about the serious potential for a $225,000 deficit by the end of 2015, will be OK, he said, even though it will be short $16,000 by then. That is because it is able to borrow money from the ambulance fund.
The general fund also is looking “thin,” Shelton said.
It was at $14,853 at the end of November compared with $48,644 in 2013, a difference of $33,791.
“Start putting together weekly meetings with trustees and department heads,” said trustee chairman Jason Rubin.