Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mayor outlines village budget, staffing and digital-service upgrades in State of the Village
Summary
In a Feb. 20 State of the Village address Mayor Tim Manross reported a village budget just shy of $5 million for the prior year, a year-end balance of $3,746,644, assessed-value growth and administrative upgrades including a redesigned website and a new digital message board funded by a NOPEC grant.
Mayor Tim Manross presented a summary of Fairport Harbor’s finances and administration during the State of the Village address on Feb. 20.
Why it matters: budget size, assessed property values and administrative investments drive local tax rates and how the village delivers services, communicates with residents and attracts economic activity.
Budget and revenue: Manross said the village’s budget for the prior year was “just shy of $5 million.” He listed interest revenue of $187,772 and a year-end fund balance of $3,746,644. Manross also said assessed property value rose from $67,884,000 in 2023 to $85,995,000 in 2024, an increase of 26.7 percent. He provided a breakdown of how property-tax dollars are distributed: 63 percent to local schools, 20.9 percent to village operations (police, fire, water, service), 12.5 percent to the county, 4 percent to Painesville Township (which the village said passes funds back), 1.7 percent to the library and 1.1 percent to the joint vocational school.
Staffing and administration: The mayor reported 40 total village employees, split evenly between 20 full‑time and 20 part‑time positions. He named key administrators present in the address: Lucas Darling (administrator), Christine Page (fiscal officer), Jim Lyons (solicitor) and Andrew Lobanock (engineer, CT Consultants).
Capital and grant-funded work: Manross reiterated completed CDBG-funded paving and streetscape work and said the village consistently seeks partner funding to stretch local dollars. He thanked CT and county partners for project delivery and noted one paving project came in with construction costs of $102,000 plus a village match of $17,000. Streetscape phase 2 cost about $245,000 with $55,000 from the village’s street-lighting fund, Manross said.
Digital services and public communication: The village refreshed its website in November (an effort led by Administrator Lucas Darling) and installed a new digital message board (paid for by a NOPEC grant). Manross described a new community calendar feature and said the village can now update public messaging remotely via the platform.
Workforce development and permitting: Manross said the village will bring additional employee benefits online in 2025 to enhance recruitment and retention, and that the village will contract with CloudPermit to change how zoning permits and code-enforcement cases are processed.
Quotes: "We refreshed our website in November... this one seems to be a whole lot more user friendly," Manross said, thanking staff for the work. He also noted, "We do a lot of these projects again with CT's help, putting them together and finding the funding."
What’s next: The administration will pursue workforce-development benefits, continue to apply for CDBG and other grants and implement the cloud permitting contract to streamline permit processing.
