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Paying Debt Helps Eastlake's Future
News-Herald, July 29, 2009
Frustration and anxiety.
Huge turnover of elected officials running municipal government.
Levies to get more money flowing into municipal coffers.
These will happen when the state places a city in fiscal emergency because it's running in the red.
Eastlake knows this firsthand. The city experienced all of this after the state Auditor's Office put the city in fiscal emergency between May 2004 and December 2007.
Part of the problem was the financial burden placed on the city by construction of the stadium where the Lake County Captains play. Eastlake saw $1 million a year in stadium debt for the foreseeable future.
But that became much more manageable recently when Eastlake paid about $10.5 million in ballpark construction debt — about $4 million in federal transportation funds, $4 million as part of the naming-rights agreement with the Lake County Captains and about $2.4 million in other revenue the city collected in recent years.
This frees up money to replace services that were cut during the crisis.
This debt payment is a huge accomplishment, and we commend Eastlake officials for making it happen.
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