The Legislative & Finance Committee (L&F) has begun meeting with Mayor Coleman, the department heads and city Finance Director Tony Ianiro to discuss the mayor’s proposed 2010 city budget. It’s still too early in the process to come to any firm conclusions about the budget, but three interesting things (two of them troubling) came to light during the most recent L&F meeting:
- Ianiro reported that the city’s payments to Mayfield Heights’ Building Commissioner Tom Jamieson terminated on January 31, 2010. That brings an official end to the dual-employment arrangement implemented by Mayor Coleman in the Building Department beginning in January 2008.
- Troubling item # 1. The current proposed budget reflects a surplus of approximately $138,000 (revenue over expenses) in the general fund. That's not much, but at least it's something. Unfortunately, however, this “surplus” exists on paper only---it exists only because Ianiro reused the employee salary figures from 2009 for the 2010 budget.
It is very possible that Ianiro took that approach because the city is currently in the midst of labor negotiations and Mayor Coleman didn’t want to tip his hand or do anything to indicate what salary increases he might accept (if any) for 2010. Bottom line, however, no one should get too comfortable with, or too confident about, the “surplus” figure that currently appears in the budget. That includes Mayor Coleman, who mentioned it during the council meeting as if it was a done deal. Once the post-negotiation salary figures are plugged in, the 2010 “surplus” budget could quickly turn into a deficit-spending one. - Troubling item # 2. L&F began discussing Home Days (or, this year, Home Day). I was stunned to hear Ianiro report that the Home Days Committee has been allowed to operate outside of the city’s financial and accounting system. Apparently it has been using a private bank account to deposit funds and to pay bills. Ianiro seemed defensive and a bit uncomfortable when asked by L&F about this arrangement. As well he should be.
Ohio Revised Code § 733.46 states:
The treasurer of a municipal corporation shall receive and disburse all funds of the municipal corporation and such other funds as arise in or belong to any department or part of the municipal corporation.
According to my reading of this law, the Home Days Committee's funds are supposed to be “received and disbursed” just like all other city funds--i.e. handled through the city’s general fund and accounting system. Why do I say that? Because rather than being an outside, community organization, the Home Days Committee is actually a creature of (and subject to the limits imposed by) Highland Heights ordinances, and it receives the overwhelming majority of its funding from the general fund, i.e., taxpayer money.
Highland Heights Ordinances §§ 145.01-145.07 establish and set the legal parameters for the Home Days Committee. For example, § 145.02 gives the mayor the authority to appoint the Committee Chair, who can be a city employee; § 145.05(f) authorizes the Committee to spend the money appropriated to it by council; § 145.05(g) prohibits the Committee from obligating itself or the city to pay any sums beyond the amount appropriated by council; § 145.06 lists the Chairman’s powers (which do not include the power to open or use private bank accounts); and § 145.07 requires the Committee to provide to council a “complete (post-festivities) accounting” of all the funds it has received and disbursed..
Given Ohio law, and given the fact that the Home Days Committee is an ordinance-created “part” of the city, the fact that the Committee has been allowed to operate outside of the city’s financial and accounting system—apparently with Ianiro’s knowledge and tacit approval—is troubling.
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