City Council OKs budget; hears audit info

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert City Council approved permanent appropriations for 2013, with some needed amendments, and also discussed the merits of having the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office conduct a performance audit of the city.

Council unanimously approved a permanent appropriations ordinance for the year, replacing a temporary budget ordinance already in place. City Auditor Martha Balyeat had the usual list of last-minute amendments to the legislation, including a $10,000 appropriation for the Van Wert County Regional Airport Authority; approximately $60,000 to the Van Wert Police Department to pay for salary and benefit expenses for an additional officer, who will be hired sometime in mid-year and will bring the department up to required minimum staffing; approximately $47,000 for the Fire Department; and funding for an additional full-time employee in the Parks Department. Money received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for expenses incurred in last year’s derecho windstorm will be used for tree-trimming costs this year, Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming noted.

The budget includes a projected carryover of $307,000, which is in addition to the reserve fund of 10 percent of overall appropriations and an estimated $150,000 to be received this year from the final year of estate tax receipts.

Also on Monday, Donovan O’Neil, Northwest Ohio regional liaison for Auditor of State Dave Yost, made a presentation on performance audits that are being conducted by a division of the state auditor’s office.

O’Neil said the performance audits are a “value added” service being provided by state auditors, noting that more and more communities and agencies are seeking the audits to improve services and processes.

“It’s really taken off the last year or two,” he noted of the service first begun under former state auditor Jim Petro.

Unlike private business, which aims to provide a high-quality service or product in order to make a profit, O’Neil explained that government’s goal is provide the highest quality of services possible for the least amount of taxpayer dollars.

To do that, government entities need to look at “best practices”: improving processes to maximize efficiency and minimize waste.

While performance audits, which take between six and nine months to complete, are not cheap, costing upwards of $75,000 for one that looks at all of a city’s operations, the savings can also be substantial. O’Neil said average savings are $24 for every $1 in audit costs in the first year only, although he stressed those savings are not guaranteed.

Balyeat has been a proponent of performance audits, as has Finance Committee Chair Joi Mergy.

“Savings over the years would add up and be worth the investment,” Balyeat said of the audits. “I think it would pay for itself in time.”

The auditor said she thought it would be a good idea to set up a meeting with the city’s department heads to allow them to suggest areas they would like to see included in a performance audit. First Ward Councilman John Marshall liked that idea. “Those are the guys out in the foxholes fighting the wars,” he said, adding that department heads would likely have a better idea of what areas and city processes could be improved.

Councilman At-Large Jeff Agler wasn’t so sure, noting his feeling that the $75,000 audit cost wouldn’t likely result in all that many savings. “You’re not going to save a million dollars,” he added.

Council candidate Jerry Mazur noted, though, that even if an audit resulted in an annual savings of $30,000 and cost $75,000, those savings would pay for the cost of the audit in just 2½ years.

Council President Gary Corcoran said he would like to see a performance audit that could give city officials information on whether its current economic development strategies are working. “Job creation and income growth are critical to us,” Corcoran told O’Neil, who said he wasn’t sure a performance audit could provide economic development information.

More discussion is planned, with a conference call proposed with a supervisor of the Auditor of State division that handles performance audits.

Mayor Don Farmer talked about a recent family trip to the southwest Indiana area that allowed him to see what was taking place in a couple of Indiana communities that were awarded economic development projects Van Wert was also in the running for. The mayor said he felt that Van Wert was “far ahead” of either community in its downtown revitalization and code enforcement activities. “Sometimes it is good to get away from our community and get back to it to see what we really have,” Mayor Farmer told Council members.

The mayor also reported that the city’s newly redesigned website has had approximately 12,000 hits in the past three weeks, and also brought up the possibility of selling advertising on the site to generate additional city income.

While Law Director John Hatcher said he has seen nothing in the Ohio Revised Code that would prohibit online advertising on the city website, he did caution that Council and city officials should be aware of potential conflicts of interest and other ethical problems that could arise.

Also during Monday’s Council meeting, Fleming noted that the delayed bid opening for the West Main Street reconstruction project is now scheduled for this Thursday.

Streets and Alleys Committee Chair Pete Weir said that he has heard a number of compliments from local business owners on how quickly snow was removed from downtown alleys and city streets after the snowstorm.

The next regularly scheduled City Council meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 8, in Council Chambers.