Columbus – Auditor of State Dave Yost today released the Village of Waynesville (Warren County) from fiscal emergency.

The Village of Waynesville was placed in fiscal emergency on April 15, 2008 due to deficit fund balances in five funds totaling more than $233,000.

To eliminate its fiscal emergency status, the village passed a five-year, one percent municipal income tax to generate an additional $300,000 annually.  Voters also increased the village’s police levy from 5.5-mills to 7-mills through a replacement levy, which increased revenue by $100,000 each year.  The village eliminated a full-time police officer position and now uses reserve officers to fill in for full-time officers taking time off, saving approximately $30,000.

To be released from fiscal emergency, the Village of Waynesville 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 Waynesville 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 5,800 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:
Carrie Bartunek
Press Secretary
614-644-1111