‘Housekeeping’ action frees up money for pool, maintenance work

ThisWeek CW 11/09/2011

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2011/11/09/housekeeping-action-frees-up-money-for-pool-maintenance-work.html

City council’s finance committee agreed to some fund transfers and reallocations Nov. 7 as part of a series of “housekeeping” moves that usually happen at the end of the year.

The full council heard the first reading of legislation authorizing the actions later Monday night and is expected to approve the transfers by the end of the year.

“Each year, I try to estimate what our city’s fees are going to be, and I don’t ever get it exactly right,” Canal Winchester finance director Nanisa Osborn said. “This is just housekeeping and is normal for any given year.”

The 2011 changes reflect the movement of close to $2 million in previously unappropriated funds to make payments of $1.7 million to the general obligation debt fund; the transfer of $34,191 from a FEMA grant to the city’s emergency account; $2,900 for fees associated with the Diley Road project; $1,764 for insurance from the water fund; $213,000 from the general fund to pay for tax collections, election expenses and expenses related to the Gender Road project which, according to Osborn, will be refunded through an Ohio Public Works Commission grant.

The committee also recommended using the $301,000 allocated in the 2012 budget for interior renovations at the Interurban Building to a number of smaller projects. The work on the Interurban Building will continue to be put on hold.

“We set aside some capital dollars for the Interurban fund and after some time, we decided we were better served by putting this money toward several smaller issues we’ve been putting off,” Osborn said.

The $301,000 will instead be put toward city parks, the swimming pool, buildings and technology maintenance and improvements.

Public service director Matt Peoples said mandated upgrades to the community center and the municipal pool to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements will be included in the list, as will safety changes at the pool, including a change to the high dive, which could save the city insurance costs.

“It costs us $12,000 in insurance per year just to have (the high dive), and Columbus Pool Management has said they don’t put them in like that any more,” Peoples said. “There’s a new product that is a climbing wall that goes out over the pool so that if you fall, you go into the water. We’ll check with our insurance to see what that cost looks like and possibly replace the high dive with that.”

The pool improvements represent the largest single expense, totaling $91,000. A proposed new storage barn at the Public Works property is estimated to cost $30,000 and a second recycling station to be placed next to the high school football field, which could bring in more money from Waste Management, has also been proposed at a cost of $20,000.

Other work includes projects to improve energy efficiency at several city buildings, a redesign of the city’s website and improvements to make Howe Pond more of a destination site.