August 4, 2011
City income tax revenue topping 2010 By SARAH SOLE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Grove City’s income tax revenue collected so far this year is $865,000 higher than it was at the same time in 2008, the city’s previous income tax peak. Based on the first six months’ income tax revenue, it looks like the city will exceed its year-end
projections, said city finance director Mike Turner. The city had projected it would collect $17 million in income tax by the end of 2011, just below 2008 levels. Turner said the city’s largest previous income-tax collection was in 2008. Currently, the city is just short of $10 million in income tax revenue for fiscal year 2011.
That amount is 9 percent higher than the amount collected in the first six months of 2008, about 20 percent higher than the first six months of 2009 and 17.5 percent higher than the first six months of 2010. The recent peak is an indication of a slight improvement in the economy, Turner said. Almost $1 million of the in-
crease in revenue is attributed to an increase in business income tax payments. Withholding taxes are up 4 percent from last year, Turner said, and withholding taxes represent most of the revenue. The number one factor that could affect revenue is the economy, Turner said. Grove City is fortunate through the years that
planning has allowed the city to have different types of businesses here, including education, retail, transportation, warehousing, service and manufacturing, Turner said. “We don’t really rely on one type of industry,” he said. About 70 percent of the city’s annual revenue is income tax. Income-tax revenue goes to the city’s
general fund. The largest expenditure of general fund is security of persons and property, which includes the city police department. Money from the general fund also is used for capital projects. “We’re constantly trying to control expenses,” Turner said. Because the police department See REVENUE, page A2
District busy with summer repairs
HOMECOMING CELEBRATION
By SARAH SOLE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Eric George/ThisWeek
(Above) The 1970s alumnae team celebrates a win during the annual softball tournament for the Grove City High School alumni Saturday, July 30, during the 22nd annual Grove City Homecoming Celebration. (Left) Mark Dountz of the Grove City Athletic Boosters grills hamburgers during the celebration on Friday, July 29. (Below) The Friday celebration was cut short after a large storm settled over the area, but 6-year-old Jake Ball makes the best of the soggy situation.
By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Mayoral race attracts three hopefuls thus far By SARAH SOLE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Three men have announced their candidacy for Grove City mayor in the November election. City council president Ted Berry and former council member Michael Uhrin have taken out petitions. Incumbent
Richard “Ike” Stage said he will seek re-election. The filing deadline is 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 10. Stage, elected in 2007, has participated in Grove City government in various forms since 1979, when he served on the Grove City Planning Commission. He also served as mayor from
April 1988 to 1995. A Grove City native, Stage serves as senior vice president of the Citizens Bank of Ashville. Building additional job opportunities within the city and working with Mount Carmel on its forthcoming emergency center in the city are some of his goals for next year.
He also wants to find a permanent home for the Grove City Center for Higher Education, currently operating out of the South-Western Career Academy on Big Run South Road. The facility comprises Ashland University, Columbus State Community See MAYORAL, page A5
Though students might not be thinking about returning to classes just yet, the SouthWestern City School District has been busy making repairs in preparation for the start of school. SWCS usually spends about $1 million on its summer permanent improvements. This year, the work includes roofing repairs for various buildings and a new temperature-control system at Darby Woods Elementary School. Funding for the projects comes from the district’s permanent improvement levy, approved in May 2005. The 2 mills bring in about $4.5 million per year, said Sandra Nekoloff, district executive director of communications and community relations. The largest portion of this year’s expenditure went to partial roof replacements at six sites, totaling about $410,000, said Mark Waller, coordinator of property services. Roof repairs were done at Stiles Family Resource Center and Bostic Center, while partial roof replacement was done at Finland Elementary, J.C. Sommer Elementary and Pleasant View Middle schools. The projects’ completion date is Aug. 16. J.C. Sommer’s roof “was leaking quite a bit,” while other roofs had minor leaks, Waller said. Winter weather is particularly rough on roofs. Finland Elementary’s roof problems were exacerbated by the winter. The district has a roof section replacement schedule that cycles over a 25-year period. Roofs have 20-year warranties. About $185,000 was spent on heating, ventilation and air conditioning at Darby Woods Elementary and Buckeye Woods Elementary schools. About $125,000 of that went to replace the control system that regulates Darby Woods’temperature and diagnoses any possible problems within the system. Other improvements included asphalt paving, masonry repairs, siding repairs, shelving and casework, fence repair at Franklin Heights and Westland high schools and flooring projects at Stiles, J.C. Sommer, North Franklin elementary schools and Franklin Heights and Grove City high schools. Everything has been going according to schedule, and many of the projects have come in under budget, Waller said. “I’m really pleased with the progress that we’ve made,” he said.
City installs more safeguards on financial procedures By SARAH SOLE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
While GBQ Consulting reported Grove City’s financial procedures are “operating as designed,” the city is implementing additional safeguards. GBQ was hired by the city in January to review Grove City’s books, and last week delivered its report on the city’s internal
accounting. A city press release said, “GBQ found that the current procedures and internal controls related to bank reconciliation and cash management procedures were operating as designed and were similar to what would be observed in similar-sized organizations.” GBQ, which initially was paid for $20,000, was hired for an ad-
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ditional $25,000 to review management procedures and bank account reconciliations, for a total of $45,000, city finance director Mike Turner said. GBQ prepared information for the report since January. This work concludes the contract that GBQ had with the city, said city community businessrelations officer Don Walters. Meanwhile, Grove City is in
the process of implementing new accounting and payroll software, at a cost of $132,754. While the finance software will be in place by fall, the payroll software will be in place by the first of the year, Turner said. The new software will have an annual maintenance cost of $13,668. City safety director Mike Wasylik said the report “should help us avoid any type of significant
mistakes in the handling of our cash in the future.” In December, the Internal Revenue Service told the city it owed about $685,905 in unpaid payroll withholding taxes. City officials on Feb. 7 said the city had made a payment of $752,179 to the IRS. The IRS had reduced the amount due from the $1.4 million the city previously believed
could be its obligation to the IRS. A special state auditor’s investigation is under way regarding the $235,311 in unaccounted-for city funds linked to IRS debt. City police chief Steve Robinette said the city will come in under its initial $54,000 estimate for the state auditor’s office reSee CITY INSTALLS, page A2
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