Struthers City Council approves emergency budget moves, transfers $65,000 to police and fire pensions

The Struthers City Council on Dec. 30, 2024, approved a package of routine but time-sensitive financial measures, including a temporary appropriation for the start of 2025 and two pension-fund transfers totaling $65,000.

Council members moved to suspend the usual rules to consider and pass ordinances on an emergency basis. The council placed an ordinance for a temporary appropriation covering the first quarter of 2025 into consideration, specifying an effective date of Jan. 1, 2025, and a maximum temporary period of 90 days. The council also introduced and moved to pass an amendment to 2024 appropriations that would repeal ordinance 24-023, and another ordinance amending section 351.16 of the Struthers codified ordinances was noted at second reading.

Two budget transfers were presented and advanced during the meeting: authorization for the auditor to transfer $40,000 from the 2024 general fund to the police pension fund (police pension fund and internal account numbers are cited in the record), and authorization to transfer $25,000 from the 2024 general fund to the fire pension fund. Each ordinance was presented with language declaring an emergency to allow expedited consideration; the council proceeded with motions to suspend rules and the chair read motions to pass.

The transcript records members responding affirmatively to votes and confirmations, but it does not provide clear, complete roll-call tallies in an unambiguous format. The recording shows multiple members answering 'Yes' when called; the transcript does not list a final numeric vote tally for each ordinance. The ordinances were treated as approved during the meeting and recorded as having been moved to passage.

The council also acknowledged a submission for the 2025 regular meeting schedule (submitted in the record by Megan R. Shorehouse) and noted a police and fire meeting scheduled for Jan. 8, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. No extended debate or public testimony on the financial items appears in the recorded segments.

The council concluded regular business after these actions. Where the transcript presented garbled or inconsistent spellings (for example, the city name appears as 'Stothers' in some lines), this article uses the correct local name, Struthers City Council, to match official usage.