Columbus – Auditor of State Dave Yost today announced that the Village of Patterson (Hardin County) has achieved financial stability after spending more than four years in fiscal emergency.

“Any day that my office can release a village from fiscal emergency is a good one,” Auditor Yost said. “It means that local officials have been effective and responsible in taking the steps necessary to restore the village to fiscal health and sustainability.”

The village was assigned the fiscal distress designation on May 14, 2013, after the Auditor’s office identified deficit fund balances, past due accounts payable and a treasury deficit.

The village of 139 residents overcame its fiscal difficulties by passing a 1 percent income tax levy that generates about $13,000 annually. The sale of the village hall and property also netted $1,501. The village entered an agreement with the Regional Income Tax Agency for tax collection.

The village also had to satisfy the following requirements to be terminated from fiscal emergency:

1. Adopted and implemented an effective financial accounting and reporting system;
2. Corrected or eliminated all of the fiscal emergency conditions; no new conditions have occurred, and it appears that, based on the five-year forecast, the village will remain out of fiscal emergency during the forecast period,
3. Met the major objectives of the financial recovery plan; and
4. Prepared a five-year forecast in accordance with standards issued by the Auditor of State, and the opinion expressed by the Auditor of State is “nonadverse.”

A full copy of this fiscal emergency termination is available online.

 ###

The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio, is responsible for auditing more than 5,900 state and local government agencies.  Under the direction of Auditor Dave Yost, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies and promotes transparency in government.

Contact:
Beth Gianforcaro
Press Secretary
614-644-1111