Girard stares down $400K general fund deficit

April 12, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

GIRARD

City officials are staring down a deficit of more than $400,000 in the general fund.

Sam Zirafi, city auditor, broke the news to city council during a finance committee meeting this week.

A state auditor has informed the city that it will need to transfer $210,000 from the general fund to the municipal court fund, Zirafi said. In effect, the city is returning the money to the court.

Girard Judge Jeffrey Adler had approved the transfer of the $210,000 from the municipal court fund to the general fund in 2014 and 2015, because the court is partly subsidized from the general fund.

While completing a two-year audit of the city for 2014 and 2015, however, state auditors concluded the $210,000 belonged to restricted funds that could not be legally transferred from the municipal court to the general fund.

“That’s their interpretation,” Zirafi said, adding that the city has been making such transfers for years. “We disagree with their interpretation, but we have to comply.”

Ben Marrison, communications director for the Ohio Auditor’s Office, said the state’s audit of Girard for 2014 and 2015 is not yet available for release.

The city entered 2017 with a $114,347 deficit in the general fund, according to a report prepared by Zirafi.

Additionally, in the wake of the state’s determination, the city can no longer expect its usual transfer of about $100,000 from 2016 from the court to the general fund.

That puts the total general fund deficit at more than $400,000.

Zirafi qualified that number by pointing out that the city is still waiting for property-tax revenue to roll in this spring.

“We’re fine,” Zirafi said, though he said he could not predict exactly what tax collection figures would be.

Still, Zirafi believes it would be ideal for the general fund to operate with at least half a million dollars in the black. The general fund is crucial because it can be used to bolster other funds.

Revenue from a controversial speed camera program is one way for the city to plug the hole in the general fund.

At Zirafi’s recommendation, city council voted this week to redistribute fine revenue, so that more of the proceeds will benefit the general fund.

Effective retroactively to April 1, 50 percent of the city’s camera profit will go to the general fund, 25 percent will go to the police department, 20 percent will go to streets and sidewalks and 5 percent will go to parks and recreation.

The city collected more than $400,000 from the camera last year. This year’s camera earnings are likely to be much higher, since the city only began collecting revenue mid-year in 2016.

When council voted 6-1 last year to adopt the camera program, council members said the purpose of the camera was to improve safety rather than to generate revenue.

Councilwoman-at-large Lily Martuccio alluded to that rationale during Monday’s finance committee meeting.

“What is the general fund supposed to do when the monies go down?,” she asked, implying that ticket numbers would eventually decrease if the camera succeeded in slowing down drivers. “This is a Band-Aid right now, is what I’m saying.”

Third Ward Councilman Keith Schubert criticized communication between city officials.

“We’ve had multiple meetings and we have talked and we have asked, ... ‘What do you guys advise us to do other than the camera and I have yet to hear something,’” Schubert said.

Councilman-at-large John Moliterno, chair of the finance committee, echoed that frustration.

“If this is a major issue, why doesn’t the administration say something?” Moliterno said.

The city was in state-designated fiscal emergency from 2001 to 2012.