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THANK YOU FOR READING SOUTH EUCLID OVERSIGHT.

DONT BE FOOLED BY THE THREAT OF SAFETY FORCE LAYOFFS WHILE THE ADMINISTRATION INCREASES IN SIZE AND SALARIES. PLEASE CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK FOR INFORMATION ON THE LAND AQUISITION TAX SCHEME, ALSO KNOWN AS ISSUE 65 - SAFETY LEVY:

PLEASE CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK TO VIEW 2015 TOTAL COMPENSATION PACKAGE FOR ALL CITY OF SOUTH EUCLID EMPLOYEES.





Saturday, December 28, 2013

Records Disposal



Please click on the links below to view Ohio Revised Code as it pertains to records disposal.

149.39 Records Commission - Municipal Corporation




To view documents below, please RIGHT CLICK on document, then, LEFT CLICK on "OPEN LINK."





























































Please click here to be directed to the website of the Ohio Historical Society State Archives of Ohio Local Government Records Program.


To view documents below, please click on the link.

  RC-3 Records Disposal - Mayor's Office 

  RC-3 Records Disposal - Finance Department 

  RC-3 Records Disposal - Building Department 

  RC-3 Records Disposal - Community Center 

  RC-3 Records Disposal - Service Department 

  RC-3 Records Disposal - Fire Department 

 RC-3 Records Disposal - Police Department Part 1 

  RC-3 Records Disposal - Police Department Part 2 


Please click on the following links to view previous related posts:

Too Little Too Late

Housing Records Destroyed




Sunday, November 17, 2013

Did Someone Say "Audit"?




To view documents below, please RIGHT CLICK on document, then, LEFT CLICK on "OPEN LINK."

Please examine the information presented at the previous SEO post, Repayment Schedule - Cedar Center Debt.  It is important to have a basic understanding of how the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) process works to realize just how much bunk is being handed out in the article below.























































To view the above article directly on Cleveland.com, please click here.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Safety Levy Details Exposed





  • time: 5 min. 01 sec.






To view document below, RIGHT CLICK on document, then LEFT CLICK on "OPEN LINK."







Sunday, September 29, 2013

United For A Better South Euclid




United For A Better South Euclid 
  September 2013 (Volume 1, No. 1)     
The Safety Force Levy!







Please see A Quick Look Back  to view a chronological presentation of the Welo Administration.






Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Free Pass No More



To view documents below, RIGHT CLICK on document then LEFT CLICK on "OPEN LINK."






















































Please see previous SEO posts:

Welo's Expedient Rhetoric

No Capacity For Shame



Sunday, September 1, 2013

Too Little Too Late


To view documents below, RIGHT CLICK on document, then LEFT CLICK on "OPEN LINK."

 



Please see previous SEO post,
 
 
 

Friday, July 19, 2013

CAFR - 2012

COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT
Please click here for the Wikipedia definition of CAFR.




Document below: MUST SEE!
Management Letter for the year ended December 31, 2012.
 
 
  

 
Document below:
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the City of South Euclid; year ended December 31, 2012.


 
 

To view document below, right click on image, then left click on "open link."




















  

Friday, June 28, 2013

Repayment Schedule - Cedar Center Debt






To view documents below, RIGHT click on document, then LEFT click on "OPEN LINK."



Document below:  Cedar Center debt repayment schedule. 
The "total" column indicates the yearly amount owed by the City of South Euclid LESS the money allocated from the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) agreement with the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District.  The TIF agreement is for the property now owned by Cedar Center North, LLC.  It does not include GFS – Gordon Food Service or the Bob Evans parcels.  According to the Cuyahoga County Auditor’s website, the current tax assessment for the 7 acres purchased at $1,325,000.00 by Cedar Center North, LLC is $135,686.08.  The total annual payment made by the City of South Euclid for the bond repayment schedule below will be reduced each year by a portion of the amount of the property tax assessment.  The remaining balance is owed by the taxpayers.



























Document below:  The original Greenvale 9 debt was $1.8 million.  That amount has now escalated to over $2 million.  Only interest payments have been made.  Another $2.1 million is the remaining debt brought to you for the demolition of the original Cedar Center shopping center.  Interest only payments are being made on that amount.








Document below: Tax bill summary - Cuyahoga County tax year 2012.    
     
























Please click on the link to view the Wikipedia explanation of TIF - Tax Increment Financing.

Don't miss:  "South Euclid has lost millions of dollars on Cedar Center North"


– Jane Goodman, Ward 4 Councilperson – April 19, 2010


Please also see the previous related SEO posts:

Astronomical Debt
One Lie After Another
Salaries Skyrocket Under Welo
Administrative Salaries Must Be Cut
Cedar Center Decoy
Elephant In The Room




                                                        

Thursday, June 13, 2013

See For Yourself




Video below:  Committee of the Whole meeting - "Revenue Enhancements,"  held on May 28th, 2013 - presented in two parts, in it's entirety. 


  • time: 57 min. 30 sec.


 
 
  • time:  60 min. 03 sec.


Monday, April 22, 2013

A Quick Look Back




"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them...To cover with the veil of secrecy the common routine of business, is an abomination in the eyes of every intelligent man."
      -     Patrick Henry


2003 - City of South Euclid total employee wages = $7,368,505.00.

January 2004 – Georgine Welo administration takes office.

July 2005 – Citing the dire need for voters to pass a tax increase the Sun Messenger reported, “If Tuesday’s try for a .5-percent income tax increase fails, residents will see changes, and not for the better, Mayor Georgine Welo said.”  They quote Welo, “South Euclid won’t be recognizable as it is today…We would have to consider stopping recycling and leaf pickup.  We’ll have to do layoffs.  We might go for a four-day work week.  We won’t have (school) crossing guards.” 

August 2005 – Voters approve .5-% tax increase.

2006 - The 2006 city budget reflects significant pay increases and the creation of many new positions at city hall.

March 2007 – The City of South Euclid purchased the Cedar Center properties for approximately $17 million.  Financial analysts have estimated the actual cost including demolition, remediation and interest payments at upwards of $20 million.   The same month, city leaders purchased 9 brick duplex homes on Greenvale Drive.  $1.8 million was borrowed.  $1.6 million was paid to the sole owner of the 9 homes and the remaining $200,000 was for demolition.  All of the 18 dwelling units had been issued a certificate of occupancy for each previous year during the Welo administration.  That process requires registration and inspection by the building department and compliance with city code of ordinances.

April 2007 – A 4- year incremental pay increase was introduced for the Mayor’s salary. The rate went from $77,000 to the current amount of $90,079. 

June 2007The 9 Greenvale Drive homes were demolished, instantly reducing the property value to vacant land status.

December 2007 - The Fire Chief was involved in a serious accident while driving a municipally owned Ford Explorer at 1:50a.m. returning from the firemen’s Christmas party held at a saloon on E. 185th St.  It was eventually discovered that Welo allowed take-home city vehicles with unlimited driving and gasoline privileges for approximately 7 of her administration members.

January 2008 – The citizens of South Euclid paid $38,254.53 in property taxes to Cuyahoga County on the Greenvale 9 for the tax year 2007. 

February 2008 - City council passes legislation allowing South Euclid to enter into a contract with the firm Burgess and Niple to "oversee the redevelopment" of Cedar Center.

March 2008 - The position of "housing manager" is created.  Starting salary is $63,000 plus benefits.

April 2009 – City council passed the last salary ordinance enacted to date. 

April 2010 Jane Goodman, Ward 4 Councilperson :  “We screwed ourselves, pardon my French, but it’s time for plain speaking—with some expenditures—some loans that—some things that we did that put us in iffy financial positions…And I know that our citizens want to see us spend less if we’re going to ask them to contribute more.”

March 2010 – City leaders attempt to eliminate the tax credit given to residents who work outside the city.  Strong opposition from the people results in the reversal of the back-door tax increase.  All city employees took 6 furlough days in 2010.

May 2010 – Voters approve a road levy; Issue 45.

June 2010 – City officials proposed immediate budget and public service reductions which included eliminating $200,000 slated for street repairs from the general fund.

2011 – All city employees took 12 furlough days in 2011.

January 2011 – Gordon Food Service purchased 1.4acres of Cedar Center property for $2.35 million.

October 2011 – Bob Evans purchased .7 acres of Cedar Center property for $900,000.

November 2011 – The City of South Euclid sold 7 acres of Cedar Center property to Cedar Center North,LLC for $1.325 million.

September 2012 – It was necessary to refinance a portion of the city’s debt over the next 30 years.  The amount of $17.6 million includes Cedar Center and the Greenvale 9.   

2012 – City of South Euclid total employee wages = $9,293,144.49.

March 2013 – Ward 1 Councilperson Ruth Gray on the administration’s recent promotion and hiring practices regarding several individuals outside of the safety forces:  “…There were some significant cuts that should have been made then.  Because we knew that we were losing these funds.  We knew that last year….we’re getting ready to layoff our safety forces.  We knew in 2012 that these cuts were coming.  They started in 2012 but yet we continued to hire.  We have to explain and justify that.  We continued to hire knowing that this was going to happen…”

During the 2012 budget hearings it was revealed that due to a financial shortfall, there must be $750,000 cut from the budget.  The cuts were coming exclusively from the Police and Fire Departments resulting in the threatened layoffs of personnel in both departments.   A safety committee meeting held on March 18 brought residents out to express their dismay with possibly losing a portion of the safety forces.  The next day at a session of the budget hearings, Mayor Georgine Welo proclaimed a change of plan due to the willingness of people to pay more to maintain the same level of safety services.   She proposed the following:

v     The elimination of the tax credit given to residents who are employed outside of the city of South Euclid.  It was explained that this elimination of the tax credit could run in conjunction with –

v     A proposed income tax increase.

v     A possible safety levy.

 
Administrative salaries have steadily increased while a significant number of new positions have been created since 2004.  Approximately 80% of the South Euclid budget goes to payroll.  The passage of a current salary ordinance reducing administrative salaries and the non-essential positions created should be considered.  Instead, city officials are looking at cutting services and increasing taxes.

 

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Tax Trifecta


Documents below:

Resolution 18-13:  Tax levy

Ordinance 04-13:  Tax credit rollback

Ordnance 05-13:  Income tax increase


 



“We screwed ourselves, pardon my French, but it’s time for plain speaking—with some expenditures—some loans that—some things that we did that put us in iffy financial positions…And I know that our citizens want to see us spend less if we’re going to ask them to contribute more.”  April 19, 2010 – Jane Goodman, Ward 4 Councilperson.  
 
Please see Bottomless Pit and Deep Pockets to view video of the above quote.  

"South Euclid has lost millions of dollars on Cedar Center North"  Letter to the Editor, Plain Dealer

Please also see, The Old Switcheroo.


To view document below, RIGHT click on document, then LEFT click on 'OPEN LINK."






Saturday, March 23, 2013

One Lie After Another




Document belowHandout and agenda for South Euclid City Council Safety Committee Public Hearing; March 18, 2013.

A few observations about the handout (below) distributed to those in attendance at the March 18th meeting.

Mayor Welo accepts no responsibility for any part of the financial state of affairs in South Euclid.  The majority of the blame is placed on Governor Kasich with a few shots fired at county and federal levels as well.  Yet there is no mention of her refusal to make any reduction in administrative and non-collective bargaining salaries.  There is also no mention of the colossal amount of debt the taxpayers of South Euclid have been involuntarily saddled with for the next 30 years because of the Mayor’s decision to purchase Cedar Center and the Greenvale 9.  Despite the mayor’s claim in the taxpayer funded handout, “…wage freezes were implemented from 2009-2012…” – that was not the case.  During that time period, a number of $15,000 individual raises were awarded.  *Please see examples cited below. 



    


*Links below:  The information below is contrary to the Mayor's claims of, "...wage freezes were implemented from 2009 - 2012..."



Video below:  Mayor Welo offers the following:

“…One of the reasons that police and fire are being effected is because now we’re cutting into the bone…”

“…There’s no more fat, we’re cutting into the bone, and that’s not good…"

Welo makes her 3rd reference to “cutting into the bone.”


     

    • time:  13 min. 17 sec.







    Video belowIn response to a citizen’s commentary regarding the city’s apparent lack of preparedness, Mayor Welo said,
     
    “…We’ve made several cuts over the last 4 years…”

    “…It was like all of a sudden you woke up and it was like a bad train coming down…”

    Please also see previous SEO post, Welo's Expedient Rhetoric.

     



    “…Like I said earlier, we’re cutting into the bone now…”
     


    “…Our plan is working…”



     
     
     
    • time: 9 min. 47 sec.




    Video below:


    • time: 14 min. 13 sec.




    Video below:



    • time: 17 min 59 sec.




    Video below:


    • time: 9 min. 46 sec.






    To view documents below, please RIGHT click on document, then LEFT click on "OPEN LINK."






































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