Council hears negative financial numbers

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert City Council zoomed away from Zoom meetings, opting instead to meet in Council Chambers with social distancing in place.

Chief on the agenda were various items of financial business, including City Auditor Martha Balyeat’s updated report on city finances.

Balyeat’s financial report wasn’t exactly a positive one, with the city’s General Fund approximately $138,000 behind April 2019, while city income tax revenues lagged approximately $428,000 behind last April and were $291,000 under last year to-date. 

However, the city auditor said she and City Income Tax Administrator Jenifer Adams are cautiously optimistic the numbers will look better in a couple of months, noting the city hasn’t seen major layoffs to this point, while added that, with the postponement of the income tax filing deadline to July 15, a substantial number of taxpayers have likely not filed their taxes as yet. Balyeat said she should have a more complete financial estimate after the tax filing date.

“We’re hoping that by the end of July we’ll have a better picture of where we are,” she told Council members.

Because of the hit travel has taken because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city’s Hotel-Motel Tax revenues are also down, Balyeat noted, but added the only entity that could be adversely affected is the Van Wert Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, which receives 25 percent of Hotel-Motel tax revenues.

Other entities, such as, Main Street Van Wert, Economic Development and the Van Wert County Regional Airport, receive a flat monetary amount, which she thought would be covered by reserves in the fund.

The city auditor said the city has also received financial assistance 14,496) from the CARES Act passed by Congress to provide money to local governments hurt financially by the COVID-10 pandemic, while other funds will likely come from state government as well. 

City Council on Monday also took legislative action related to COVID-19 assistance, preparing an emergency resolution to accept assistance funds and adopting legislation creating a special fund for the money to ensure it is kept separate from other funding, since the money can only be used for specified purposes.

In addition to those measures, Council also approved a “then-and-now” certificate totaling $53,979 for upgrades to Van Wert Municipal Court and a supplemental appropriations ordinance.

Balyeat also noted in her report that the city received $57,328 from the Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC) as a refund of a percentage of premiums paid to that agency as part of the Billion Back program.

“They claim they have made so much money on their investments that they can give all this money back,” Balyeat explained.

During his report, Mayor Ken Markward said he has proclaimed the week of May 10-16 as “National Police Week” in Van Wert to honor local law enforcement officers. 

The mayor also noted that one positive for the city from the COVID-19 pandemic has been an early start on the Jefferson Street Bridge project, which began on Monday. Unfortunately, to accomplish that, classes had to be canceled for the remainder of the school year, since the project was originally to begin after school was out.

In other legislative action, Council approved an Ohio Department of Transportation paving project that includes work on Washington and Main streets, and prepared an ordinance needed to sell unused or outdated city equipment online.

City Law Director John Hatcher reported that a pretrial conference was held recently in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court in connection with the lawsuit filed by Haven of Hope over the city’s rejection of its zoning appeal. A “committee of the whole” meeting of Council members will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 1, to further discuss city zoning definitions.

Council President Jon Tomlinson was also asked how long members of a charter commission being created would have to spend on developing a charter government for the city, if voters approved the commission in November.

Tomlinson noted that would depend on how many changes the commission would make to the current statutory city government system, adding his opinion that the more changes made, the more likely voters would be to reject a charter when it came up for a vote in 2021.

Because of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, May 25, the next City Council meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 27, in Council Chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 515 E. Main St.