Richmond Heights makes $300,000 oversight

Published: Monday, March 05, 2012

By Caitlin Fertal
CFertal@News-Herald.com
@NHCaitlin

Richmond Heights has received the draft report of the city’s bank reconciliation and has discovered a nearly $300,000 error that’s not in the city’s favor.

City officials were under the impression that the money existed in the bond retirement fund, but became aware that a deposit was recorded twice.

Finance Director Lynda Rossiter said that a technical error was to blame for the miscalculation.

“There was a technical difficulty with it, and that batch was supposed to have been deleted. However, for whatever reason it did not end up being deleted, and then the next week, that particular (figure) was added to another batch, and consequently we had it in two different batches and both batches were posted to the system,” she said.

Bank reconciliation should take place once a month in order for the city to keep current with its financial status, Audit Committee Chair and Councilwoman Miesha Wilson Headen said.

The last time Richmond Heights completed a bank reconciliation was in December 2008.

The city hired the Local Government Services division of the Ohio Auditor of State to conduct the reconciliation for 2009 and 2010 financial records. The cost so far approximates $35,000 and is expected to double this year, with the city responsible for completing the reports for 2011.

Employee training is included in that cost to ensure that the city can process the reports on its own without hiring someone else to do it in the future, Headen said.

Headen said the bond retirement fund poses a recurring issue for the city and has presented multiple errors over the years.

Rossiter stated that she was unfamiliar with multiple errors related to that fund.

In addition to the reduction of anticipated funds through a filing error, the city also will see a reduction to the local government fund through various tax reductions and eliminations from the state totaling about $1.1 million in 2013, Mayor Daniel J. Ursu said.

Ursu also said the tax credit reduction that was on the ballot and failed to pass in November 2011 will likely not be revisited, although council is evaluating ways to make up the lost funds.

“I think the council respects what the voters said on that issue and probably would not return to that same thing again for a while,” he said. “We’re back to the drawing board as far as what could be suggested as a revenue enhancement.”

The finance committee was scheduled to hold a special meeting Saturday to discuss these issues, and an updated financial forecast for the city was expected to be presented.

The balanced budget for 2012 is required by the county by March 31, and Headen said it will be ready.