GIRARD — City officials said the city did not overspend its budget in 2024, noting that every fund maintained a positive year-end balance.

Auditor Julie Coggins told city officials Monday at the council meeting that a recent audit was released of the city’s finances for 2024.

In a statement she read at the meeting “All expenditures were made within the limits of available resources, and no fund operated with a negative balance at any time during the year, which is clearly reported every month during the finance meeting.”

Coggins said the figures referenced in the audit include expenditures plus encumbrances, which can sometimes make it appear as though funds are over budget when in fact, the funds are fully supported by available resources.

“There were available resources within each fund to cover all of those expenses. The variances are a normal part of municipal accounting and do not indicate overspending,” Coggins said.

She said every fund in 2024 maintained a positive year-end balance, “confirming that the city remains in a good financial position and all expenses were authorized and supported by available resources.”

Coggins said she will continue to closely monitor all funds throughout the fiscal year to ensure the city maintains the same strong financial position.

During the finance meeting Monday, Coggins said the general fund ended September with $2,245,327. The ambulance service fund ended September with $242,724 and is expected to be at $317,000 by the end of the year.

Coggins said this fund pays for the part-time staff at the fire department with no money coming out of the general fund.

She said water collections totaled $763,846 at the end of September, which were higher than other times during the year. Coggins said the water fund should break even by the end of the year.

As for speed camera collections, Coggins said September was at $28,610, which was lower than what the city has seen in other months this year. The speed camera revenue is much lower this year, Coggins said.

“Year to date, we are down close to $500,000, which is a 76% decrease than where we were last year at this time,” she said.

Mayor Mark Zuppo said he has spoken to interim police Chief John Freeman, who said there will be more officers patrolling with the speed cameras, so he expects that will get the totals to increase again.

Coggins said the city has paid $97,710 to Girard Municipal Court for processing the speed camera tickets, with no money coming from Liberty and Vienna townships since before July 1 since their police departments no longer use speed cameras.

Councilman John Moliterno, D-at Large,chairman of the finance committee, said the finance committee, auditor and treasurer have met and he is ”confident where city finances are.”

Zuppo said the city does not have any negative fund balances and all expenditures were fully covered by available funds within each respective account