HARVEYSBURG - Nearly 10 months after the state auditor put this village on fiscal emergency status, the Village Council is making strides toward cleaning up its finances. But state officials say there's still a long way to go.

        The council is hoping a new village administrator, an operating levy and new record-keeping guidelines will help bring this village of 563 in northeastern Warren County out of the emergency.

        Harveysburg was placed on fiscal emergency in September - the culmination of more than a year of financial difficulties that included the prosecution of a former administrator and talk of dissolving the village.

        Last week, council voted unanimously to place a 2.5-mill, five-year operating levy on the November ballot. The village has been operating without a levy for at least five years, said Councilwoman Kathleen Brewer. The levy would cost the owner of an $80,000 house about $61 a year.

        “It's very important. We'll be in trouble if it doesn't pass,” Mrs. Brewer said.

        Council also voted to place a 1-mill renewal of the police levy on the ballot. The renewal would not increase taxes.

        But the levies might not be the answer to all the village's financial problems, said Paul Steiner, the state treasurer's representative on the financial planning and supervision commission that was formed after the village was moved from fiscal watch to emergency in September. It received the designation because its deficit - $83,630 as of July 31, 2001 - was more than one-sixth of the general fund's annual budget.

        “Most of the time, it's not just a money problem,” Mr. Steiner said. “It's systemic problems. You could give them all the money in the world and it doesn't fix it.

        “They need the operating levy to sustain and to pay back whatever funds they've been spending from.”

        Council's newest member, Dave Crisenbery, also sits on the financial planning commission and the council's finance committee. He's pleased with the work the council has done in his eight months serving the village.

        “Over the last three council meetings, we've really made a lot of progress,” Mr. Crisenbery said. “We're following the state's recommendations and working to get back in the good graces of the state.”

        An audit of the village's 2000 and 2001 financial situation, released last week, also identifies problems the village will need to address. The 1999 audit - which led to the village being put on fiscal watch in December 2000 - cited 25 areas in which the village wasn't in compliance with financial guidelines.

        The 2001 audit found that the village corrected 12 of th ose, some with the criminal conviction of former administrator Kimble Grant. But the audit still cites 14 areas of non-compliance, most of them record-keeping issues.

        The new village administrator, Max Roberts -- not related to Mayor Ray Roberts -- is hopeful he can help turn the situation around with smart business management and an emphasis on record-keeping.

        Hired in April, Max Roberts, who owns and operates a survey company, has been working to ensure the village's employees are working efficient schedules to best utilize the limited payroll.

        His main concern is to get the village in the habit of documenting its activities.

        “I've stressed we've got to start creating a paper trail of what's going on. Document and keep it,” Mr. Roberts said.

        The council is hoping to keep up with those issues by creating a records commission, one of the auditor's office's recommendations. The commission will meet at 6:30 p.m. July 22 to discuss a record-retention schedule and policy.

        “We're trying different things, and we're trying to get more money into the village,” Mayor Ray Roberts said. “It's going to take more time to see what's going to happen.”

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