12/15/17 – 5:21 A.M.

Findlay City Council members talked more about a projected budget deficit for 2018 Thursday. The current budget for the year shows a $1.6 million shortfall, but city officials seem to agree that won’t end up being the case.

One reason for the optimism is the way 2017 finished. The initial budget showed a $1.2 million deficit for this year, but city departments returned $1.7 million. The city would have fully avoided a deficit if income tax collections hadn’t come in around $1 million short of the estimate for 2017.

Councilwoman Holly Frische says “this is just a deficit on paper.” She added, “The community thinks we’re being irresponsible, when we really are not deficit spending, we are over-appropriating in departments.”

Service Director Paul Schmelzer says it’s not wise to micromanage the budget. He says allowing department heads to set their budgets as necessary creates an incentive to beat the budget. He added he didn’t believe the city will see a deficit in 2018.

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