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Judge approves transfer of ‘dormant’ Niles funds to general fund, utility funds
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A judge in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Thursday approved the transfer of $474,200 in “dormant” Niles funds to the city’s general fund.
The general fund is the fund that the city uses to pay for most services, such as police and fire.
The Niles auditor, Giovanne Merlo, said after the hearing the money will be used to balance out the city’s accounts for the end of the year and provide a carryover balance of about $300,000.
When the process was started, it was believed the money might be needed to avoid layoffs at the end of this year, but other cost-saving measures made that a moot point, Merlo said.
There won’t be any layoffs the last two weeks of the year, Marlo said. He noted, though, that that decision is made by the mayor.
An additional $700,000 was transferred to the water, light and sewer funds from the utility trust fund, “which is no longer subject to claims of customers of [the city’s] utilities due to failure to claim deposits or overpayments for an extended period of time,” according to a court filing.
Merlo testified at a short hearing before Judge W. Wyatt McKay that the money being transferred is “excess funds” and not needed for any purpose.
Judge McKay approved the transfer of $210,762.61 from the transit fund, which was established for the operation of the former Niles Transit System, which is no longer in operation.
He also approved the transfer of $134,000 from the unclaimed-monies fund “for which no claims have been made within a five-year period;” $100,255 from the special-assessment bond retirement fund; and $29,182 from the general-obligation bond retirement fund.
In every case, the city said in a filing by Niles Law Director Terry Dull that the city is no longer under any obligation to keep the money in those accounts.
The judge also approved the transfer of $175,000 from the utility trust fund to the water fund; $175,000 from the utility trust fund to the sewer fund, and $350,000 from the utility trust fund to the light fund.
Some of the utility funds were running large deficits in 2014 and was cited as one of the reasons the city was placed in fiscal emergency in October 2014.
For example, the water fund was running a deficit of $2.7 million.
The Niles auditor’s office started researching the transfer of dormant funds in May, said Merlo, who became interim auditor Sept. 23, a short time after former Auditor Charles Nader resigned.
Among the changes since May that saved the city money were the move of the health department to the county, reducing personnel costs at the Ralph Infante Wellness Center by reducing the director to part time, increasing building and zoning fees, reducing health care costs and eliminating an employee wellness program, Merlo said.