The Fostoria Finance Committee met with officials Wednesday to better understand the city’s budgeting process and how the $800,000 shortfall in the general fund came to be.  The committee requested the meeting to do a line-by-line examination of the projected general fund revenue for 2016.  City Auditor Steve Garner had some good news.  After his latest round of adjustments, he said he was able to reduce the general fund deficit from about -$800,000 to closer to -$700,000 with more changes still to be made.  Between now and when the final 2016 budget is due, the finance committee plans to host another special meeting to examine general fund expenses. 

School report cards were released by the Ohio Department of Education on Thursday and included ratings on 10 measures, including how many students passed the state tests, how well students did on the tests, graduation rates, literacy and more.  Area schools who fared well in the testing with A’s and B’s in the number of students passing state tests and how well they did were Arcadia, Bluffton, Liberty-Benton, Riverdale, Van Buren, and Hopewell-Loudon.  Findlay received an A and C, Fostoria F and D, Tiffin a C and D and Bowling Green an A and C.

The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office will be getting three new vehicles.  The Hancock County commissioners approved the purchase of three cars at a total of $37,500.  Separately, the commissioners approved a $12,500 addition to a contract with Peterman Associates, Findlay, for the design of improvements to Distribution Drive.  The total contract with Peterman Associates is now $ 47,500.  Steve Wilson, project manager with the Hancock County Engineer’s Office, said the roadway needs to be moved further east than anticipated to allow for construction of a new substation by American Electric Power.

The North Central Ohio Regional Council of Governments plans to pursue $1 million in funding for a proposed fiber optic network that is to link computer systems used by government, police, fire and emergency rescue services in Seneca County.  According to Lt. Aaron Russell of the Tiffin Police Department, the informational technology updates would result in more efficiency and cyber security for the entities involved.

A Bowling Green teen is to spend seven days in juvenile detention, among other penalties, after admitting that he operated a vehicle that caused the death of four people last year.  17 year old Nicholas Korducki was charged in juvenile court last February with four counts of vehicular homicide following the deaths of four members of a family from Luckey in a Feb. 5, 2015 traffic crash on Ohio 25, just north of Bowling Green.  Korducki entered an admission to the vehicular manslaughter charge in court; the remaining charges were dismissed.