Columbus – Auditor of State Dave Yost today released the Village of West Elkton (Preble County) from fiscal emergency, a status it has held since 2004.

The Village of West Elkton was placed in fiscal emergency on September 16, 2004 due to deficit fund balances in four funds and a treasury deficit.

To eliminate its fiscal emergency status, the village enacted a one percent income tax in 2006, which generated an additional $20,000 annually.  The village also sold some of its capital assets for $11,800 and received a $20,000 Community Development Block Grant for street repair.  West Elkton’s police department and mayor’s court were eliminated in July 2011, saving $13,000 annually.

To be released from fiscal emergency, the Village of Melrose met the following criteria:

• Adopted and implemented an effective financial accounting and reporting system;
• Corrected or eliminated all of the fiscal emergency conditions and no new conditions have occurred, and it appears that, based on its five-year forecast, the Village of Melrose will remain out of fiscal emergency during the forecast period;
• Met the major objectives of the financial recovery plan; and
• 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 may be accessed online.

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The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio, is responsible for auditing more than 5,700 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.

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