The Ohio auditor has declared the City of Marion to be in fiscal emergency. City officials are remaining hopeful as they wait for the next steps in the process.
In a press release from Mayor Bill Collins, officials assured the public that there would be no interruptions to daily services as a result of the designation.
Officials hope state can help clean up city finances
For the next two years, representatives from the state auditor’s office will be available to help the City of Marion with training, completing outstanding financial work and improving internal procedures.
“I think that we’ll actually get to be in a very good place once this is all said and done,” Collins said. “I think that the state will be a big help to get us where we need to be financially and our policies and procedures for how that office runs, which is what we haven’t had for going on five years now.”
Aaron Rollins, chair of Marion City Council’s Finance Committee, is looking forward to having documented procedures for reconciliations, something he says he’s wanted for years.
“When you look at the root cause of how we got into this mess, it was in 2019, we stopped doing reconciliations and we haven’t done them since,” Rollins said. “So we’re now six years, almost seven years down the road without bank reconciliations, which is mind-boggling, right? That’s like not looking at your checkbook for seven years. Who does that?”
There are still many unanswered questions as city officials wait to hear back from the auditor to learn more about what next steps will look like. For now, Collins said the city will continue its day-to-day operations.
Both officials emphasized Marion is on its way back to financial stability.
Rollins, who was in the meeting with the state, said the designation was “an absolute best-case scenario” for Marion.
“The state made it very clear in that meeting we’re not in any danger of not being able to pay our bills,” Rollins said. “We’re not in any danger of not being able to meet payroll. From a cash perspective, the city is still pretty strong. It’s really about accountability and making sure that we elect the right people to the right jobs and making sure that we provide those people the right tools to do the job.”
Eventually, a seven-person commission will be appointed to take charge of the city’s financial recovery. It will be formed by the state treasurer, the director of state office of budget and management, the mayor, the Marion City Council president, the county auditor, an appointee made by the governor and an appointee made by the mayor.
Collins expected the first meeting to happen in early September. The mayor is waiting for more details from the state auditor for what requirements appointees need to meet.
The Ohio auditor’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Marion Auditor Vidya Iyengar was not available to comment.
Officials scramble after state report is released early
The timing of the announcement surprised city officials, who expected the auditor to release its report July 21. Officials were told they were not permitted to share the report until it went live. Mayor Bill Collins was notified the morning of July 20 the report was released early.
He said it’d been a stressful morning in city hall.
“I had a meeting set up for tomorrow afternoon after this was released to talk to people and talk to our employees, talk to our union people,” Collins said, “assure them that we’re going to continue to move forward each and every day like we are right now, that there’s nothing catastrophic that’s going to happen to them in the next 24 hours because of this designation. So, it was very frustrating.”
Collins acknowledged that while the news of the designation could be alarming, he believed the help from the state will be beneficial in the long-term. In the past two years, Collins credited the city auditor’s office and his administration for completing the 2021 audit and being just a few weeks off from completing 2022.
“We view this as an opportunity to correct past auditor failures to complete both reconciliations, annually required audits and strengthen our audit procedures to better serve our residents,” Collins said according to a press release. “Our team is committed to transparency, accountability and ensuring the long-term fiscal health of our community.”
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Marion officials see fiscal emergency as ‘best-case scenario’
Reporting by Abby Bammerlin, Marion Star / Marion Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Abby Bammerlin, Marion Star | USA TODAY Network
