By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com
It was fairly routine stuff for the Galion Finance Committee Wednesday night, but the business conducted reflects the work of an active administration conducting projects around the town.
The committee approved going forward with the application for an FAA grant to do repair paving work at the airport. This grant will be a 90/10 split between the state and Galion, with Galion’s share at $7,697 and the state’s at $69,271. This will repair some serious cracks of the runway, tarmac, and aprons. Some of these cracks have gotten to be an inch or more wide and need addressed.
There was a great deal of transferring monies between funds that happened as well. Auditor Brian Treisch pointed out that all of this money has been appropriated, but the funds need shuffling to maintain positive cash balances.
Mike Richart commented positively on this. “There are no concerns, we’re being active and that’s what we’re supposed to be doing.”
There were some supplemental appropriations that were also discussed. The biggest among these was a $2 million appropriation to the Electric Fund. Treisch was quick to dissuade fears at the large sum, citing several reasons why it was necessary. When budgets were projected it was estimated low. In turn, January, February and March were quite expensive, and there has been an increase in power costs since June.
Tom Fellner asked if the cool summer had helped offset the harsh winter, to which Treisch replied that was not the case.
The city has seen increased power consumption, partly due to the fact that the factories are having better years than they have in years passed. Income taxes are also up 15 percent over last year. All of these are good things for the city, but simply were not anticipated in the last budget projections, hence the necessary appropriations increase.
The committee threw its full support behind the budget proposals which will move on to council. On Sept.3 Treisch will meet with Belinda Miller to review the city’s progress out of financial emergency.