Marietta City Council President Susan Vessels talks about a performance audit of the City of Marietta performed by the Ohio State Auditor’s Office at the city’s request and the recommendations made in the audit during a public information session on the audit Thursday night.

By Michelle Dillon

Staff Reporter

Marietta City Council held a public information session on its performance audit before its regular council meeting Thursday.

Council requested the Ohio Auditor’s Office perform the audit. The audit was made available to the public in February and stated that if the city’s recent trend of negative operating results and cash depletion continues, the general fund could be depleted as early as 2025.

During the public session, Marietta City Council President Susan Vessels talked about seven recommendations, three key observations and one issue for further study that were listed in the audit. She read the information from a performance audit summary and the audit itself, both of which are available on the city’s website.

The seven recommendations were: develop multi-year financial forecasts and improve financial reporting and communication efforts; develop a formal, written strategic plan and periodically update the current capital plan at regular intervals; establish a process for determining when to enter into contracts and how they should be structured and monitored; evaluate opportunities to more efficiently provide health services to residents; consider adjusting staffing levels for the public works department, utility billing department, police department and fire department to align with peers’ lower staffing levels.

Consider renegotiating salary schedules to align with peers’ lower salary schedules.

Consider renegotiating expenditures and decrease the risk of future liabilities; improve fleet management data collection and apply it to decision making processes.

One of the two key observations in the audit is that Marietta receives more revenue across all funds compared to local and statewide peer averages, but it also has higher corresponding spending relative to its peers.

This means that the projected decline in the general fund is much more likely a function of spending than a function of revenue constraints. Another key observation is the city has a city-run health district, which is uncommon in Ohio as most cities rely on their respective county health department for services and the current dynamic of having the Marietta/Belpre Health Department and the Washington County Health Department may be resulting in less efficient provision of services.

The third observation is that the city offers medical, dental and vision insurance that is much more cost effective than insurance in the region and state.

There was one issue for further study mentioned in the audit. The audit recommended that consolidation of the Marietta/Belpre Health Department and the Washington County Health Department could lead to reduced costs while maintaining service levels.

Some council members commented on the audit during the public information session. Ward One Councilmember Michael Scales said the audit is something that needs to be taken care of.

Ward Two Councilmember Bret Allphin said “our goal here is not to issue blame … we are resolved to find a solution and it’s critically important that we do that.” He said the audit helped council better understand the position the city is in.

Ward Four Councilmember Erin O’Neill thanked everyone who attended the public information session because it helps to better inform the public. She urged attendees to reach out to their councilperson with questions.

She said she would make a list of questions submitted and will discuss the main concerns with her fellow councilpersons.

At-Large Councilmember Cassidi Shoaf pointed out that the audit stated the city’s insurance offering is extremely robust and extremely cost effective and that offsets the city’s higher staffing costs.

She said that neither she nor any of the other council members have an idea of the solution for the city’s financial problems, but whether or not they know the next step doesn’t change the situation and they must take action and hard decisions will have to be made soon.

At-Large Councilmember Ben Rutherford said “this is an eminently solvable problem” and it is not a revenue problem. He said the question is if the city is putting its revenue to judicious use.

At-Large Councilmember Harley Noland said this is the second performance audit that he has been involved in for the city and after the first one there were some department combinations.

He said now the city needs to make even harder decisions so they can continue to meet payroll and provide a high level of service to citizens and he is ready to make those hard decisions.

The public was not invited to comment during the session, but were invited to submit written comments or questions after the session.

Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com