Forcing repayment would hurt taxpayers, Youngstown's lawyers tell state

YOUNGSTOWN

A law firm representing the city is urging the state auditor’s office not to issue findings that could reach about $4.5 million for using water, wastewater and sanitation funds for economic-development projects.

The auditor’s office “is currently waiting for a repayment plan from the city” for $4,462,662 it spent in 2017 from those three funds, according to a 20-page letter sent by attorneys with Roetzel & Andress, a Cleveland law firm hired by Youngstown to represent the city in negotiations.

The auditor’s office wants the money repaid from the city’s general fund, which had a $629,509 surplus at the end of 2017. The city cannot afford to pay the money from that fund, the Roetzel letter reads.

“Addressing these structural deficits will require sacrifice from taxpayers,” it reads. “Any further financial liability on taxpayers would be too much of a burden on the city and its people.”

The city could end up in fiscal emergency if required to pay back the money.

The letter, dated Feb. 15 and obtained today by The Vindicator, also states the “city is committed to negotiate in earnest with the auditor between now and the end of February to meet the auditor’s end-of-February deadline to close the city’s fiscal year 2017 audit.”

Read more about the matter in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.