Nov 29, 2016 3 min read

MONESSEN – Monessen officials are finally turning around the city’s troubled finances.

“Last year was extremely hard. We are up to date on our bills. We cut, scraped and just said no. I didn’t think it was possible. Next year, we will turn this city around,” Councilman Ronald Chiaravalle said at Monday’s Monessen council meeting.

Council passed the 2017 tentative budget of $4.7 million with the tax rate remaining the same at 37.43 mills. The city has been in financial straits and cut all unnecessary spending due to a budget deficit of $600,000. This year, it entered the state’s early intervention program to avoid becoming a financially distressed community.

Chiaravalle said that the 2016 budget wasn’t a true financial picture. Last year’s budget was adopted at $3.8 million, when the true spending was about $4.4 million. The amount of taxes generated from each mill of taxes used to prepare the budget was estimated at $80,000, when the true number was closer to $51,900, he said.

Chiaravalle said that this practice had been going on for several years. “We would start each year with a deficit but this year the city has no outstanding debts,” he said.

The tentative budget will be available in city office for 30 days for review. Final approval is expected at council’s Dec. 27 meeting.

Mayor Lou Mavrakis said this budget is a step in the right direction and he believes that the city is beginning to move forward.

The city received two bids for the purchase of the building that houses City Hall at 1 Wendell Ramey Lane.

NEI Ohio Holdings LLC of Belle Vernon bid $445,000, with 50 percent down and 50 percent financed over three years. Best Metal International bid $425,000 with $235,000 down and $190,000 financed over five years. Council did not act on the bids. Council decided to have the city solicitor Gary Matta review the bids with a vote expected at the Dec. 27 meeting.

City officials have been considering the sale of the four-story office complex, which was constructed in the 1960s as the Mon Valley Community Health Center and now needs nearly $1.5 million in renovations.

Mavrakis added that having an accurate budget and selling City Hall is helping to get the city on the right path.

“With (President-elect Donald) Trump visiting here, all of the media attention, a Republican Congress, Senate and president, I feel that we are going to get some much needed help,” he said. Trump paid a visit to the former steel town during the presidential campaign.

In other news, council approved the purchase of updated software financial software, which includes technical support, from Software Systems, Inc. of Valencia. The cost of the system is $29,400 and a yearly technical support cost of $8,600. The city currently pays $8,000 for annual support. The technical support includes, maintenance, upgrades, a server, training and IT support.

Gary Held, president of Software Systems, said his company has been working with the city for more than 20 years. He added that the city’s current software is antiquated and not user friendly. “This new software will allow the employees to put information into a spreadsheet, pdf file, or Word document,” he said.

Chiaravalle added that the new software will be more efficient. The cost was budgeted and some of it may be offset by a state grant, he said.