Auditor recommends reopening cautiously

Miami County’s auditor told county commissioners Thursday that he recommends county leaders move ahead “cautiously” until more is known about the financial impact of COVID19 and any efforts to reopen businesses and workplaces closed due to the pandemic.

Auditor Matt Gearhardt met with commissioners to discuss the county’s financial health and possible responses to COVID-19. His bottom line: More information will be available by the end of April to help explore possible financial changes.

Some counties are furloughing employees but Gearhardt said more discussions are needed before any such action locally. “We have all worked together in the past to weather storms ... It is time to go that far yet?” he said of elected officials and department heads. “I would suggest we continue to proceed cautiously.”

The commissioners have already imposed a hiring freeze, stopped all spending for travel and training, and banned nonessential spending.

Commissioners discussed asking elected officials and department heads to review their budgets and identify spending that could be deferred.

A meeting with those other leaders likely will be scheduled, they said.

“We need to get elected officials to think about what they could do,” Commission President Jack Evans said. That examination should include staffing with the question being, ‘Are there areas we could cut?’ ” Evans said.

The county ended 2019 with a general fund carry over balance of $20.9 million. By the end of the first quarter 2020, the balance was nearly $23.4 million. The county sales tax income so far this year was ahead of the same period in 2019, but will decline by an unknown amount because of closings, Gearhardt said.

NANCY BOWMAN, CONTRIBUTING WRITER