By CARL E. FEATHER - Staff Writer - cfeather@starbeacon.com
JEFFERSON — Ashtabula County is not in a fiscal emergency, nor is it a candidate for fiscal watch.
That’s the bottom line from Nita R. Hendryx, chief project manager for the Auditor of State, Mary Taylor, on county finances as of the end of 2009. Hendryx and Tisha Ann Turner, assistant chief project manager, met with the Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners and other county elected officials Tuesday morning to explain exactly what it takes to be on fiscal watch or in fiscal emergency, and the process of getting out of it. They were invited by Ashtabula County Commissioner Joseph Moroski, who said he wanted to provide elected officials with the opportunity to ask state auditor representatives questions about the complex subject and process. The 35-minute session was held in the commissioners’ meeting room.
While the visit was not intended to provide an analysis of county finances, Hendryx did review the year-end statements for the county before the meeting.
“So far, it looks good,” she said. “Everything is in the black. So at this point, in the black, you meet none of the conditions (for fiscal watch). Things look good on paper.”
Hendryx said only the auditor of state can declare a county, city or school district to be on fiscal watch or in fiscal emergency. The Ohio Revised Code (ORC) is very specific about what conditions have to exist before that kind of declaration can be made.
There are three conditions that can lead to fiscal watch; in general, they all involve not having enough cash to cover accounts payable or deficit funds at the end of the year and one-twelfth of the next year’s anticipated revenues being insufficient to meet the obligations.
She said no deficit existed in Ashtabula County’s general fund at the end of 2009: Commissioners balanced the budget and made do with what was available to them to spend.
Usually, the governing body of a troubled entity will send a letter to the auditor of state informing the state of a troublesome financial situation and requesting an analysis.
For a county to be in fiscal emergency, the previously stated situations would have to exist, but at a higher-level: one-sixth, rather than one-twelfth of revenues would have to be insufficient. In addition, the county would have to be:
n In default on debt payment by more than 30 days, or;
n Fail to make a payroll for more than 30 days; or
n Use millage intended for another subdivision, like a school district, to cover other obligations.
If the state auditor determines an emergency exists, an official commission of seven persons is established and given widespread authority to review all revenues and expenditures estimates. The commissioners have 120 days during which to come up with a recovery plan. If the commission rejects the plan, the commissioners have another 30 days to come up with an alternative. That failing, the commission can cut appropriations.
Hendryx said the recovery plan is a road map to stop the bleeding and get county finances back in the black both for the near future and five years later. She stressed that the state does not take over the operation of the county and does not bail out the county with an infusion of cash. Rather, the auditor of state’s office supervises the process of cutting expenses and increasing revenues, when possible, to bring the county back into the black and keep it there.
County Auditor Roger Corlett expressed concern that the cuts being imposed by commissioners to different departments endanger the elected officials’ ability to perform statutory duties, but the state auditor representatives said that situation is outside the scope of what ORC describes as “fiscal emergency.”
Hendryx said Scioto County is the only Ohio county under fiscal emergency.
