Girard council introduces 2017 appropriations

GIRARD

City council introduced legislation this week to appropriate close to $15 million for the 2017 fiscal year.

Council is slated to pass the appropriations, which include $5,070,376 for the general fund, after two more readings.

At the end of 2016, the city had a positive overall balance of $1,735,680. It also recorded deficits of $114,347 in the general fund and $218,885 in the water fund.

City Auditor Sam Zirafi has said, however, he is confident the city can eliminate those fund deficits by 2018.

One source of general-fund revenue is a handheld speed camera program adopted by the city last year. From August through December 2016, the city collected $369,000 from the camera, which is operated by the company Blue Line Solutions of Athens, Tenn.

Thirty percent of the city’s camera revenue goes to the general fund, 30 percent goes directly to the police department and 40 percent goes to streets and sidewalks.

The city has not yet complied with a Jan. 9 Vindicator public-records request for the number of citations issued from the camera and the number of citations contested.

A report released last month by Ohio Auditor Dave Yost included Girard among 16 Ohio cities to meet the threshold for “high fiscal stress.” The auditor’s office made that determination by establishing “financial health indicators” and examining four years of data through 2015.

A news release from Yost’s office characterizes the report, which is available at www.ohioauditor.gov/FHI, as an “early warning system.”

Zirafi described the state ranking as a “useful tool,” but noted it does not include 2016 data. The city is aware of the issues raised in the report and is on track to rectify trouble spots, Zirafi said. Several of the “critical” and “cautionary” indicators in the report deal with Girard’s general fund.

Zirafi will give fiscal recommendations to city council during a finance committee meeting at 6:30 p.m. March 13. The committee meeting has been rescheduled from Feb. 27.

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