Cleveland Heights finance committee reviews 2025 budget materials, schedules follow-up meeting

Cleveland Heights finance committee members on an afternoon meeting reviewed year-end financial reports and the city’s draft 2025 appropriations materials, pressed staff for reconciliations of unencumbered fund balances and ARPA obligations, and scheduled a 5 p.m. meeting on Monday, March 3, to continue the discussion and place the appropriations ordinance on the March 3 agenda for additional reading (not final passage).

The materials delivered to the committee included October–December fund reports, unencumbered fund balances, quarterly financial statements, revenue and expense breakdowns for the general fund, and bank reconciliations. Finance Director Hairston told the panel that “we literally just finished this information this morning,” and said the reports were produced after significant year‑end work and IRS and payroll transitions that delayed posting some encumbrances.

The committee’s core concerns centered on reconciling the accounting reports and the timing of obligations. Committee members noted a December “unencumbered” amount that still showed roughly $3.4 million related to ARPA obligations that had been entered but not yet reflected in the system.…