The state auditor has given a positive response to Akron's revised financial plan.
The Akron Beacon Journal reports Ohio Auditior Dave Yost sent a three-page letter to Akron on Thursday, calling the plan "workable."
Yost rejected the city's first proposal becuase he said it lacked "substance and suffient detail." If Akron did not submit an improved plan, he said the city would be moved up to a "fiscal watch."
The city still needs to send Yost additional information that he requested by Feb. 29.
Akron will also need to submit its quarterly report to show the progress they have made by April 20.
On the Web: www.ohio.com
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The state auditor says the city of Akron's plan to get out of "fiscal caution" isn't enough, and he's asking for more information.
Akron Fiscal Plan: Try Again by ANN's Mike Ward by Akron NewsNow
Auditor Dave Yost says that Akron's plan - basically - needs a lot more detail...
"Well, it's a good start, but it's just not enough," Yost tells AkronNewsNow.com. "We need a blueprint, but what we have is a sketch on the back of a cocktail napkin."
Yost says Akron reducing its aggregate deficit funds balance to 25-million dollars is "definitely a step in the right direction".
But he says the city plan doesn't specify which funds have been replenished, which funds are still in deficit, and doesn't say how they'll fix those funds.
Akron finance director Diane Miller-Dawson tells AkronNewsNow.com that the city complied with Yost's initial request.
"The request that he asked us to comply with didn't ask for all of those specific details, either," Miller-Dawson tells AkronNewsNow.com. "We gave them a plan that we thought met what he was looking for."
But Miller-Dawson says the city will "do its best" to comply with Yost's latest request - which it must do by a deadline of January 9th.
If Yost isn't satisfied with that plan, he will move the city into the more severe "fiscal watch" category, which would lead to state oversight.
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ANN EARLIER COVERAGE:
State Auditor David Yost has given the city one month to develop a new plan to get the city out of "fiscal caution" after Akron submitted their strategy over a week ago.
The Akron Beacon Journal reports Yost was not satisfied with the new plan and says that if Akron doesn't develop a better plan, the city will be moved up to a "fiscal watch."
Yost stated that the plan lacked "substance and sufficient detail" on how the city plan to correct budget problems.
The state auditor requested that Akron work more quickly to eliminate negative fund balances by 2013.
On the Web: www.ohio.com
The city of Akron submitted their plan to the state auditor's office Wednesday detailing how they intend to get the city out of fiscal caution.
Earlier this year Auditor David Yost issued a new "fiscal caution" tag for Akron and a requested a plan be developed within 60 days to find out how Akron would resolve the issues.
"They've just got the plan. We have not gotten a reaction from them yet, but our plan outlines the things that we've done and the things we will continue to do over the next few years," said Finance Director Diane Miller-Dawson.
The proposal states the city plans to correct fiscal practices and budgetary concerns in 'a reasonable period of time.' Miller-Dawson says they fulfilled the state auditor's request of developing a plan within 60 days.
"What we submitted to the state is exactly what they asked for. They asked for a plan and we gave them our plan on how we intend to get out of fiscal caution," said Miller-Dawson.
Miller-Dawson explains that the headline, 'Akron requests more time on audit,' on the front page of the Thursday edition of the Akron Beacon Journal does not correctly represent the current situation.
She says the city already cut the number of fund designations it uses in it's accounting after Yost said they had too many.
"We had about 740 funds. We've reduced or consolidated our total number of funds down to 140 funds," said Miller-Dawson.
Miller-Dawson says the city is better for going through the practice of evaluating it's procedures.
Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic responds to the state auditor's report out this week.
The auditor declared Akron was in a state of fiscal caution after records show the city was $87 million in the red at the end of 2010.
"The clear indication by our clean audit, which is how this would be described, means there's no missing funds, there's not fraud, there's nothing that's wrongdoing," Plusquellic said.
The mayor said it comes down to an interpretation of what would be considered a more transparent system to better track funds and accounts.
Mayor said he disagrees with the auditor's interpretation, but mentioned the city has agreed to comply and submit its budget plan within the required 60 day mandate.
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