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Liberty trustees say layoffs last resort in financial recovery plan
By Sarah Lehr
LIBERTY
Trustees hope decreased spending coupled with fee increases and an existing road levy will right the township’s finances.
The board reviewed a financial recovery plan to be submitted to the Ohio auditor by Feb. 3 at a special meeting Wednesday night.
The township, which is entering 2016 with a general fund deficit of about $125,000, has been in state-designated fiscal caution since 2013 due to problems revealed by audits for 2010-11 and 2008-09.
Under fiscal caution, the local governing body maintains control, but is subject to guidance from the state to ensure the township or municipality doesn’t fall into the more severe categories of fiscal watch or fiscal emergency.
Trustees stressed that projected numbers in the plan remain speculative since tax revenue will not come in until March and because health care fees are expected to rise for the township next year by as much as 32 percent. Additionally, the township will negotiate contracts with unions in 2016.
Those negotiations may force township employees to bear the burdens of health care deductible increases and may also include wage and hiring freezes, the plan states.
If heads of the police, fire and street departments do not support measures detailed in the plan, layoffs are possible, though they would be a last resort, trustees said.
The plan cites several cost-cutting measures already in effect, including the 2015 decision to appoint a fire captain/inspector via in-house promotion, saving $30,000;, and scheduling reassignments, saving $13,000.
Additionally, the plan cites a $7,371 savings for the general fund because Township Administrator Pat Ungaro agreed to take a pay cut in 2015, reducing his annual salary from $51,600 to $44,229. Removing the administrator’s spouse from the township’s hospitalization coverage beginning in 2016 should save the general fund an additional $6,750.
Along with expenditure reduction, the plan outlines projections for increased revenue, in part due to increased cemetery and zoning fees.
Further, a 1.25-mill road levy passed by voters in 2014 is expected to net the township $266,287 over the next five years. While the levy money will go directly to repairing roads, the township estimates the general fund will save about $4,500 since, in the past, the general fund covered road repair.
A tow yard established in 2015 is projected to bring in $104,000 annually, to be split 90/10 between the police and general funds. Lighting-district fees, also established in 2015, are expect to bring in $80,000 to $100,000 a year to offset streetlighting bills paid by the township.