Thursday, July 01, 1999
State lifting Silverton's fiscal watch
BY ALLEN HOWARD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SILVERTON — A fiscal watch, imposed on the city by the state auditor's office in November 1997, will end today, officials said Wednesday.
Ohio Auditor Jim Petro will hold a press conference at 2 p.m. today at the municipal building, 6860 Plainfield Road, to make the announcement.
“Silverton has shown a good example of how a fiscal watch can work,” said Kim Norris, chief of communications for the auditor's office. “Most of the credit for turning around the fiscal problems goes to the city council and the residents of Silverton.”
This city of a little more than 5,000 people began to have money problems when an operating tax levy failed in 1996. Mayor James Siegel said a combination of things went wrong after the levy failed. “The city found itself so deep in dept that it could not make payroll,” he said.
Rob Fredericks, who came on as city clerk just after the fiscal problems started, said human errors in the accounting system were partly responsible for the problems.
“There were so many expenses that should have been paid out of restricted funds, such as safety and street re pairs, but they were not. They were listing under the general funds, which eventually depleted the general funds,” Mr. Fredericks said.
He said he called the auditor's office to get help.
Mr. Fredericks' work in straightening out the accounting system helped to get the finances back in shape. He left the clerk's office last year.
“I will be glad to get this chapter in my career closed. I think I left Silverton in better shape than I found it,” Mr. Fredericks said.
After an auditor's review in 1997, Silverton was placed on fiscal watch and given suggestions on how to shave its budget. “They were good suggestions, some of which we were able to implement,” said Michael Hagen, Finance Committee chairman.
He said suggestions included closing the swimming pool, charging for ambulance serv ice, charging residents for brush and leaf collection, discontinuing garbage pickup subsidies, and having employees contribute to the health insurance program.
“We were able to do a lot of little things to cut the budget, like downsizing staff in some departments,” Mr. Hagen said. He said council members proposed the cuts and from then on, it was a matter of sticking to their guns.
After showing a deficit of $335,570, the city slashed $350,000 from its budget for 1998. The city showed a budget surplus of $117,028 at the end of the 1998 fiscal year.
The 1999 budget is $1.7 million and may show a surplus of $140,696 at the end of the fiscal year, Mr. Hagen said. He said the surplus should be about 1/12th of the total budget.
“We had to do things that were not popular, but they had to be done. I think the residents showed they had confidence in council when they voted to approve our charter revision (in November), which called for a municipal administrator and combining some staff positions,” Mr. Hagen said.
The state auditor can impose a fiscal watch at the request of a gov ernment entity or if an auditor's review determines that accounts due and payable from the general fund have not been paid in 30 days.
The legislation providing for a fiscal watch was passed in 1996. It was designed to create benchmarks for impending danger, Ms. Norris said.
“Under a fiscal watch, the state can offer services at no cost, to help a city reverse its fiscal slide,” she said. Such services could include help on improving fundamental accounting systems and advice on reducing costs.
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