New Wintersville budget reflects corrections by clerk
Trending
WINTERSVILLE -- At a special meeting Thursday, Wintersville Council approved a new budget that reflects corrections to the village's financial records made by a visiting clerk with the state auditor's office.
Melanie Smith was hired by the village following the departure of its former fiscal officer.
Smith told council the $5,042,920 budget before them reflects the village's real financial picture, without inflated figures she found in past line items for both expenses and revenue and amounting to about $4 million "in items that weren't really there."
She said the items seem to have been intended as contingency funds, not uncommon for county budgets but not typical for those of municipalities.
"I think your biggest problem, that I can see, was a communication breakdown," Smith told council, who said because its members weren't aware of such contingencies, they lacked a true picture of the village's finances.
She said of the new budget, "This will reflect actual things that are happening here."
Smith said for the village's financial stability, one-fourth of the budget must be projected as carryover for the following year and she has done that.
Smith noted the village is slated to receive about $1,400 through a statewide opioid settlement but that's not expected for four months.
She warned, "We do have a few things we're going to have to tighten our budget for."
Earlier this month, Wintersville officials reported finding no one had filed for tax exemptions on 26 of 72 parcels owned by the village, resulting in the village owing about $138,368 in back taxes, interest and penalties and penalties for non-payment dating from 1968 to last year.
Village Administrator Jessie Kosegi, who was hired in January, said, following the meeting, the village will begin repaying loans taken for improvements to its wastewater treatment system and new radio read water meters, and its department heads have been advised to spend cautiously.
"Despite everything that's happened, we're not broke. It's teamwork. Everybody's coming together," he said.
Asked whether the village will be forced to pay the back taxes, Kosegi said, "We're still working on that."
He also was asked the status of a certificate of deposit account, in the amount of $250,000, that also was discovered in recent months.
Kosegi said arrangements have been made for the CD to be transferred from the bank where it was opened by village officials to the one where other village accounts are held.
He said its purpose isn't clear and it's not known if the money may be used to pay off the tax debt.
Asked about use of the opioid settlement funds, Kosegi said there's been talk of allocating it for the police department, possibly for a D.A.R.E. program or K9 unit.
Approval of the new budget didn't go off entirely without a hitch.
To submit it to the county by the impending deadline, council approved three readings of a resolution for that purpose on the grounds it was an emergency.
But Village Solicitor Jake Linn said suspending the rules for three separate readings requires a vote by three-fourths of council and two of its five members were absent.