Ohio auditor declares fiscal emergency for Cleveland suburb

CLEVELAND (AP) — A Cleveland suburb hit hard by foreclosures and a diminished tax base has been placed in fiscal emergency by the Ohio auditor’s office.

Maple Heights must now craft a recovery plan that a commission appointed by Auditor David Yost will oversee. The fiscal emergency declaration was announced Friday because of missed payments on bonds for sewer improvements and a $2.7 million general fund deficit in 2014.

Mayor Jeffrey Lansky said last year that the financial troubles would likely get worse after voters overwhelmingly approved a ban on the use of traffic cameras, which had become an important new revenue source for Maple Heights.

Lansky says the city of about 23,000 has lost $10 million in tax and state revenue over the last four years and has made deep spending cuts.