July 7, 2011
City assets
Report details finances, ‘clean’ audit By LORI WINCE ThisWeek Community Newspapers New Albany’s most recent comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR) is finished and is highlighed by the city receiving another “clean audit,” said finance director James Nicholson. “The creation and presentation of the 2010 CAFR is a good example of our commitment to transparency and accountability as an organization because it takes the basic financial state-
ments to an expanded level, similar in scope to annual reports issued by publicly traded companies,” Nicholson said. The report includes information on the city’s government structure; financial reports on revenue and expenditures; breakdowns and explanations of the city’s debt; and information from the latest audit. The report is available at ThisWeekNews.com and newalbanyohio.org. “Combined with our successful annual audits, the CAFR is also a source
of pride,” Nicholson said. “We’ve once again achieved a clean audit opinion with absolutely no citations or findings. This continues the successful trend for the past four years of clean audits. “Additionally, we’ve received the Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting for the past six consecutive years from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada in recognition of the quality of our CAFR.” The report details decreases in income-
tax revenues since 2008, a trend that began when the economy began experiencing a downturn, said Scott McAfee, the city’s communications director. For example, New Albany collected $2.7 million in income-tax revenues for the general fund in 2001. By 2007, income-tax revenues had increased to $8.3 million and peaked at $8.9 million in 2008. In 2009, the revenues declined to $7.4 million and were down to $6.8 million in 2010. “We’ve been fiscally conservative in
our budgeting and we’re using our carryover balance to maintain current service levels,” McAfee said. “These past two years, we’ve spent more than we’ve taken in, and income taxes are the most dominant source of revenues for city services.” The arrival of new businesses has helped the city, McAfee said. “Since 2009, we’ve helped to create more than 3,500 jobs here in New AlSee FINANCIAL REPORT, page A2
New business
JUST A LITTLE RAIN ON THIS PARADE Dreamshine provides job opportunities for adults with special needs By LORI WINCE ThisWeek Community Newspapers A new business in New Albany provides jobs for adults with special needs while offering a host of interesting products for sale. Dreamshine, founded by siblings Mark and Amy Minard, is in the house at 31 N. High St., formerly occupied by Tailfeathers Boutique and Three French Hens. “I have a niece with autism and we both always have had a passion for this,” Mark Minard said. A Colorado native, Mark Minard came to Ohio after graduating from college with a bachelor of science in psychology. He managed a group home and found he liked working with adults with special needs. After teaching special education for a time, Minard decided he wanted to do something to help young adults who had just graduated from high school and wanted to be part of the workforce. “After high school, there are so many choices,” he said. “But I realized that choices for some were pretty limited with county programming available. There just wasn’t enough.” Minard said many of the places adults with special needs can work are set up like warehouses and have an institutional feel. Dreamshine was born out of Minard’s idea. The business caters to adults who are visually impaired, hearing impaired, autistic or have another special need that can prevent them from entering the workforce right away. At Dreamshine, they can go to the 31 N. High St. location either once a week or five days a week to learn a job and participate in social activities. Participants must be eligible for waivers through Medicaid. “They learn social skills, ongoing educational skills and job training,” Minard said. See DREAMSHINE, page A2
District earns Aa1 credit rating from Moody’s The New Albany-Plain Local School District recently received the second-highest credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service. “This is quite an accomplishment,” said treasurer Brian Ramsay. “In spite of a challenging economic climate, significant revenue reductions at the federal and state levels and anticipated declining local property values, it is remarkable to have earned such a high credit rating when so many other governmental agencies are seeing their credit ratings fall.” Moody’s has assigned an Aa1 rating to the district’s long-term refunding bond anticipation notes, according to a release from the district, because it “has a solid financial operation that is characterized by strong voter support and conservative budgeting practices.” See CREDIT RATING, page A2
Tile & Grout Cleaning
Photos by Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
(Above) Four-year-old Dean Tracey (left) and his 6-year-old brother, J.D., try to stay dry under umbrellas prior to the New Albany Fourth of July parade. The rain dampened the beginning of the parade, but clearer skies soon followed. (Below) The Marines of Columbus-based Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, served as grand marshals for the July 4 parade. (Left) Seven-year-old Beth Anne Fox gives her toy poodle, Rebel, a helping hand as they wave to floats and parade participants. New Albany’s Fourth of July celebration continued in the early evening with live music, food and fireworks at the New Albany High School commons. Visit ThisWeekNews.com for a slideshow of Fourth of July photos.
House approves Garland’s anti-texting bill By LORI WINCE ThisWeek Community Newspapers Once again, a bill prohibiting texting while driving will go before the Ohio Senate for approval. The Ohio House passed the measure, House Bill 99, by a vote of 88-10 last week. The legislation was co-sponsored by Rep. Nancy Garland (D-New Albany) and Rep. Rex Damschroder (R-Fremont). “This is about saving lives,” Garland said. H.B. 99 would ban entering or reading text messages on any device, including cellphones, personal digital assistants and laptop computers, while driving. It also would require driver-
education courses to include instruction about the dangers of texting while driving. Drivers would be permitted to text only if their vehicles were not moving and were pulled off the road. The bill stipulates that texting-while-driving violations would be considered minor misdemeanors, with possible fines up to $150. Garland said she introduced similar legislation last year, which the House also approved. However, the bill died in the Senate. “We’re hopeful we can get this bill introduced in the Senate this year,” she said, mentioning that she and other legislators are working to get senators interested in the bill. She said the legislature has one working day in July and will not meet again until September.
Garland said the idea for the bill came from one of her constituents in Gahanna, Sharon Montgomery. Montgomery’s husband died after complications from an accident caused by a driver who was using a cellphone. Montgomery has spoken regularly at various government meetings in effort to get municipalities to pass texting-while-driving bans. “My role stays the same,” Montgomery said. “I’ll still be talking to anybody and everybody to try and convince them we need this.” Garland said it would be difficult to ban cellphone usage entirely in vehicles, but she called regulating texting “a step in the right direction.” See ANTI-TEXTING BILL, page A2
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