During a joint meeting of several council committees on Tuesday city auditor Marilyn Bosco informed members that the city was critical for their general, police and fire funds according to a financial health indictor report for 2024.

She noted the report had worsened from the 2023 report which contained was just one critical.

The 2024 Financial Health Indicators report issued by the Ohio Auditor of State’s office annually reported that of the 17 markers, the city has one critical and six have a cautionary outlook.

When the committee was considering the 2026 tax budget to send to Council, Bosco said that the temporary 2026 tax budget shows that the city would see the general, police and fire would be in the red for this year and next year, but that it was legal for council to approve the tax budget. But when they start working on the budget for next year they cannot have a negative balance.

Finance Committee Chair and councilmember Fred Rayl said that it would need to be cleaned up by the end of year. Bosco said the city has gotten into a bad habit of years ago of waiting until the end of the year to try the budget and she noted last year the city could not continue to do that and that she was at the point where there is no more money to fix anything. She also noted that the tax budget is temporary and could change and that the marijuana tax is uncertain for local municipalities right now. The tax budget is preliminary and that are some items on it that could change

Rayl asked Bosco what would happen at the end of the year if there was no additional funding. Bosco responded that the State of Ohio could possibly come in and take over.

Council member Brian Kerr noted that the city has been heading in this direction for some time and has typically taken out a loan at the end of each year to try to fix the problem.

Rayl said he did not think the situation had been critical before and Bosco replied that she cannot fix anything. Rayl also said if funds do not come through by the end of the year from the marijuana sales tax, the city may be facing a mass layoff with no other option. He stressed the city has four months to work on figuring it out.

Mayor Bobby Smith, later said he was surprised to hear of this through a public meeting and that he would not allow any layoffs from the police or fire departments.

Bosco noted again that they city has descended into a bad of habit of waiting until the end of the year to try to fix the issues and that can’t happen anymore –if the city hadn’t received American Rescue Plan ACT (ARPA money) it would have been in the current position three years ago.

Kerr again that they weren’t sure about the marijuana tax and the property taxes yet so it would hard to tell what the budget would like with a lot on the horizon that may affect it even more. Rayl said the licensed plates fund was maxed out and they can’t get any more money from the street fund and isn’t sure what to do with everything being maxed out. Committee members and administration agree further discussions need to take place to find a solution.

The Finance Committee approved sending the temporary tax budget onto council for approval and noted they needed to start discussing possible solutions to the budget issues before the end of the year.

Bosco also told the committee that the state requires each municipality to have something in the budget for cybersecurity which the city. It also discovered an issue with a check sent for gas for the police department. A check in the amount of $3,837.02 mailed out to for the gas for the police department was stolen from the mail and reissued in someone else’s name. The bank alerted on the check which the Bosco said they were to decline and void it and then reissue it. She also noted that she had heard of this happening, but it has never happened to the city until now. She has to notify the state about the incident.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com