Girard auditor hopes to have all funds in the black by 2018

By Sarah Lehr

slehr@vindy.com

GIRARD

The city enters 2016 with several fund deficits, but the auditor says he believes the city can eliminate them within two years.

A finance report presented by Auditor Sam Zirafi at a council finance committee meeting this week details a general-fund deficit of $96,197.

Municipalities use the general fund to support other funds and departments.

Zirafi said the negative balance is a direct result of the loss of tax revenue from Vallourec Star.

The city received about $475,000 in payroll-tax revenue from the France-based company in 2014, but that number dropped by almost $189,000 in 2015, Mayor James Melfi said.

Girard receives wage taxes from Vallourec Star because the business, which makes pipes for the oil and gas industry, opened a $650 million rolling mill on land Youngstown annexed from Girard.

Beset by falling gas prices and a market in which there are more prospective sellers than buyers, Vallourec announced a drop in profits and layoffs of local workers last year.

Zirafi also noted that, while the city’s water department fund is currently $461,141 in the red, revenue to that fund increased by $104,247 last year due to the installation of new water meters that more accurately measures customers’ water usage.

The city has been in relatively strong financial shape over the past four years and is on track to eliminate all fund deficits with a two-year plan, Zirafi said.

“The goal is to stem the red ink and start looking forward or it will put us right back where we were before,” said Zirafi, who took office after the state placed the city in fiscal emergency in 2001.

Girard exited fiscal emergency in 2012, after eliminating a general-fund deficit of more than $2 million.

The city enters 2016 with a total positive balance, aggregated from all funds, of about $762,000.

Council will discuss the 2016 budget at a finance committee meeting at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 25. The 7 p.m. regular meeting will follow.