School District Will Receive $1.5 Million Owed In the Next Week

Avon Lake School District’s books will balance out for the 2013 fiscal year.

A day after Avon-Avon Lake Patch reported that a late $1.5 million tax bill due by NRG/GenOn Energy was late, the Lorain County Auditor’s Office said it will forward funds.

“The County Auditor’s Office called and has approved the district’s request for a tax advance,” Avon Lake School District treasurer Autumn Streng said April 4. “The funds should be received next week and will be reflected in the (Fiscal Year 2013) revenue line item for Tangible Personal Property Tax.”

The school district’s fiscal year runs from August to August.

Had the auditor’s office not advanced the money by mid June, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 budget would have shown a deficit of the $1.5 million and the FY 2014 budget would have shown an excess of the same amount. Streng was concerned voters would question why there was additional funds in next year’s budget when numbers already released, in part due to the upcoming levy, showed a lower amount.

“We’ve been working so hard to educate the community about revenue loss it will look like we have over $4 million for the (2014) year,” Streng said on April 3  “We’re trying to communicate a revenue loss. Now you’re showing in (Fiscal Year) 2014 you have more than $4 million in tangible money. We don’t want to complicate our situation with voters.”

Asked if the budget situation has essentially returned to the way it should have been before the district learned of the shortage in the final tax settlement, Streng said it had.

A representative for NRG did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication. NRG is scheduled to close down in 2015.