By: Jacob Kessler
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
Residents of Delta have been mailed a letter by the village administrator that highlights issues said to have been uncovered regarding previous village employees.
The letter also speaks about conversations with the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office. The Village Reporter has reached out to the state auditor’s office and received confirmation of the ongoing investigation.
The letter sent to village residents states the following. “Dear Resident, we care about transparency. We are accountable to you. That’s why we want you to know about a concerning discovery we recently made about your water rates. We understand that recent increases in water rates have been a burden for our residents. Money is tight for many families.”
“Paying more for a basic necessity like water is frustrating. That’s why village leaders recently dedicated months to meticulously reviewing years of public records to understand why water rates have gone up.”
“We also looked for ways to mitigate these costs. During this review, we uncovered a significant concern. Nearly 20 years ago, in a village wide vote, Delta residents approved an ordinance to allocate one half of one percent of all income tax revenue to a water fund.
The fund was set up to finance a new water treatment plant. Village leaders from those years successfully used that fund to construct and operate the water plant.
We’ve recently made a discovery. In 2017, village employees, who are no longer employed by the village, redirected money from that water fund to Delta’s general fund. It’s unclear why they did this. It does not appear to have been an accident.
As a result, the water fund balance diminished, leading to a need to increase water rates in 2023 – to prevent the fund from running out of money.
Even though the water monies went to fund other Village services, something’s not right here. We’re taking action to resolve it.
We’ve spoken with our legal counsel and investigators from the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office. We need their help to get to the bottom of why this money was moved.
We also want to know if there are other problems stemming from the actions of these former employees. We’ll cooperate completely with the Auditor of State and any other authorities to uncover everything that happened and make it right as soon as we can. To be clear, we don’t know of any taxpayer money that was stolen.
Right now, it appears simply that more than a million dollars that should have been put into the water fund over 6+ years was instead deposited into the village general fund and spent on village operations. There’s more you should know.
While the investigation proceeds, we’re also working to fix this problem and reduce your water rates as soon as we can. Here are some of the solutions we’re pursuing.
Village council will consider an ordinance that will correct the funding and make sure the money earmarked for the water fund is being sent there.
The village is applying for a federal grant that would allow us to modernize and improve our water system while simultaneously decreasing your water costs.
We should know within the next few months whether we’ll be awarded this grant. The village is actively discussing water related projects with area businesses that could lead to lower water costs for residents.
We know that no one wants to pay higher water rates. That’s why the village spent a great deal of time discovering the source of the problem. We were shocked to learn that the cause appears to have been an intentional act by former employees in 2017.
While we work with the Ohio Auditor of States office to fully investigate that, we remain committed to pursuing the solutions outlined above and others to reduce your water rates as soon as it’s financially possible.
We will do our best to keep you up to date on this issue while respecting the confidentiality of any investigation by the Auditor of State.
Thank you. Sincerely, Andy Glenn, Administrator, Village of Delta.”
Following confirmation from the Auditor of State’s Office regarding the investigation in Delta, a request was made for any complaints made to their office.
Two complaint filings were received by The Village Reporter, with one document highlighting issues regarding the Village Income Tax/Water Fund and a separate issue regarding village property that had been disposed of. It is stated that two properties disposed of received approval from the council, but a third did not.
First, in regard to the water fund, the form states that in 2001, voters voted to renew a ½ percent income tax set to expire in 2004 for a period of 30 years, in order to fund the construction of a new water plant – prior that ½ percent paid for the construction of the reservoir.
In 2017, the former administrator used an incorrect ordinance to convince council to not put 1/3 of income tax in water fund and they stopped. Caught by AOS financial audit as part of 2017 audit, in 2018.
Administrator told AOS 2015 ordinance was a mistake, and asked council to pass a retroactive resolution to 2017 to change it, which they did. This ordinance removed any allocation to the water fund.”
Water rates were then increased in 2023 in order to cover the water fund costs. The village was asked to explain what happened to the levy funds they approved.
Current administrator believes it seems intentional by former administrator – water fund shorted by over $2 million, has emails from the former administrator that reference the levy and seems to indicate he knew what he was doing.
The second issue discussed in the complaint is as follows. In 2021, three different parcels of village property were disposed of, two with approval of council and one without.
It appears there was a deal between the former Administrator and an adjacent property owner for to get the parcel for free; however, there is no support/approval.
This property was previously bought from former Administrator’s friend and the Village paid more than the appraised value and gave former owner/former council member eight years rent free to use their two buildings and the same former council member approved the agreement (brought this to the Region’s attention – suggested to turn it over to OEC).
In 2019, the former administrator applied to get this same property taken off tax roll due to being government owned, but the letter supporting the request lies about length of free use. Based on that letter, the taxes were refunded by the Fulton County Auditor.
The Village Reporter has been made aware of other issues and will continue to investigate both the issues stated above and any other additional ones.