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Wright Library celebrates 70 years

The Wright Memorial Public Library will celebrate 70 years in its historic building Sunday, Feb. 21, with cupcakes from Ashley’s Pastry Shop. The event is sponsored by the Wright Memorial Public Library Foundation, which will help underwrite the cost of renovations of this special building in the coming year.

The proposed renovations include moving all youth services to the lower level and moving audiovisuals to the upper level, which will allow for the reopening
of the rear entrance of the library. The library also plans to upgrade its catalog system.

The Wright Memorial Public Library Foundation was established in 1997 to support special events and capital growth for the library. It sponsors the summer blanket series and gives money to the youth summer reading program. To find out more about the foundation or about how to donate, go to www.wrightlibraryfoundation.org or call Wright Library at 937-294-7171.

OHS Speech and Debate has 21 headed to State

The OHS Speech and Debate team state qualifiers.

Through the efforts of both competitors and coaches, Oakwood’s Speech and Debate Team qualified twenty-one competitors in various events to the State Speech and Debate tournament in March. Four alternates also could end up travelling to the state tournament. Oakwood, in addition to qualifying so many competitors, also qualified at least one competitor in every event entered, from dramatic interpretation to policy debate.

Debate enjoyed the most success, as a total of three teams will be travelling to the state tournament, with another team as the alternate. Jeff Nagel and Maggie Light-Scotece qualified before the district tournament to the state tournament, while the remaining Oakwood teams swept the state qualifier, taking both qualifying spots and the alternate spot as well. State qualifiers were Julia Sizek and Colin Ward, and Ben Hawkins and Marcus Viereckl, while the alternates were Caroline Paule and Philip Sizek. Next in highest number of qualifiers was dramatic interpretation, with Joanna Draper, Nora Murphy and Lindsay McWilliams all placing high enough to go to the state tournament.

Domestic extemporaneous speaking has two competitors advancing to the state tournament, Tyler Dillon and Katie Hoffman, along with alternate Eli Collinson. In international extemporaneous speaking, Siobhan Tellez qualified to state competition and the alternate is Alex Tatham.

In prose and poetry reading, Kristen Foos and Mason Cammel both qualified to the state tournament. In impromptu speaking, Michael Light qualified to the state tournament. Emma Couch also advances to state with her original oratory piece. Abby Scharrer qualified in oratorical interpretation. Rob Mitchell and Melanie Ward advanced in duo interpretation, completing the large group of state qualifiers from Oakwood.

The Oakwood Speech and Debate Team is coached by Brianna Doyal and Alex Kordik.

City finances in good shape for 2009

By Lauren Beach

Every year, the city of Oakwood publishes its annual budget report summarizing the closing year’s fund balances and projecting the upcoming year’s budget. The 2009 Annual Budget Report, approved by City Council on Dec. 8, 2008, reveals that the city is in good financial shape.

The 2009 budget for non-enterprise funds is projected to be about $13.5 million as of Jan. 1, 2009, and is expected to lose about $2.16 million by the end of the year. The non-enterprise budget includes the general fund, the special revenue fund, the capital improvement fund, the debt service fund, the internal service fund, and the trust and agency fund.

The projected budget of the sanitary sewer fund is the only sector of the non-enterprise funds that shows a fund balance far below the minimum level. This shortage is attributed to relying on external services to treat sanitary wastewater and not raising sanitary sewer rates between 1992 and 2005 while the sewage disposal fees paid to the city of Dayton and Montgomery County increased by about $200,000 per year. In order to make up for the continually increasing costs, the city raised sewer rates in 2005 and 2007 and is expected to raise them again.

On Feb. 2, 2009 the Oakwood City Council approved ordinances 4663, 4664, and 4665. The ordinances were passed so that the city could borrow $3.15 million, which will be raised by the sale of notes. The notes are being issued as a result of the maturity of three existing notes, totaling $3.7 million, on March 12, 2009. The new notes have a maturity of one year and therefore will expire on March 11, 2010. The city pays $550,000 on the principal of the notes every year.

The issuance of these notes is not a result of low fund balances but alternatively, a result of the positive amount of investment revenue that the city acquires from the public facilities fund. The money being raised from the issuance of the notes will be used for the renovation of the city administration and safety building, the purchase of the Old River athletic fields, and for the renovation and construction of the Foell Public Works Center.

The single most important source of income for the city is income tax revenues. The finance department has budgeted $5.8 million for 2009. This figure is up $100,000 from 2008. The approximate revenues of the Sugar Camp Reuse Project will be an extra $250,000 annually when all buildings are occupied.

The 2009 report also budgeted a decrease of $340,000 in property taxes due to the expiration of the 5.5 mill property tax issue on Aug. 4, 2008, which can be made up with the unexpected $9.9 million estate tax collection in 2007. The completion of the Sugar Camp and Pointe Oakwood projects will increase the residential property value by about 9 percent and the commercial property value by about 23 percent.

The primary areas of the 2009 city goals and objectives are the Sugar Camp and Pointe Oakwood developments, Park Avenue municipal parking lot improvements, an upgrade to the dispatch center, an update of the city’s financial software, and a revitalization and possible expansion of the city’s parks and recreational facilities.

The report took around seven months to complete and was led by Finance Director Cindy Stafford, who joined the city staff on June 30, 2008. It shows that the city is in good shape as far as finances, although Mayor Judy Cook reminded citizens in her State of the City Address on Feb. 2 that “the year ahead promises to be economically challenging. Our citizens will not be immune or exempt from the financial crises that surrounds our country.”

Click on chart to enlarge...