FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Jesse Lightle, Township Administrator
Jacqueline Curl, Public Information Manager
433-0152

February 20, 2008

CITY & TOWNSHIP FINANCIAL STUDY TO BE PRESENTED

Citizens are invited Monday, February 25, to hear draft report findings from a financial study of Centerville and Washington Township governments. The presentation will be made at 6 p.m. in the meeting room of the Washington Township Government Center, 8200 McEwen Rd.

The report, by Wade Steen of Steen & Company, will provide a balance sheet of city and township assets and liabilities. Residents are invited to ask questions and participate in a public discussion of the report. The evening originally was intended to provide information about the Steen study and a financial study by the University of Toledo that the city and the township commissioned together, said Joyce Young, president of the Washington Township board of Trustees.

“ Washington Township made every effort to have the studies presented the same evening. Unfortunately, the city of Centerville was unwilling to meeting with us,” Young said. Trustees contacted the City of Centerville on February 4 to arrange a joint meeting to hear results of both studies.

When city and township officials agreed to a financial study at a January 2007 meeting, township trustees asked the city to include balance sheet information. In June 2007, trustees agreed to hire the University of Toledo to determine if potential cost savings could result from combining any functions of the two local governments, however the scope of work did not include a balance sheet. As a result, trustees authorized a second study through Steen & Company.

“We are hosting this meeting to provide our residents with full, comprehensive information relevant to their government’s finances,” Young said. “Each study has the potential to provide us with valuable information and both studies are needed in order for our residents to make a full and informed evaluation of city and township finances.”

When the city and township contracted with the University of Toledo, they agreed to present and review the findings in a joint meeting of city council, township trustees, and residents.

Wade Steen has served as a deputy state auditor and president of the Ohio Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). He is a long-time member of the GFOA Education Committee and an elected city council member in Upper Arlington, Ohio.