(Cleveland.com)
East Cleveland may be on its last legs financially. In November, Ohio Auditor Dave Yost said the community was “on the verge of collapse”and “insolvent” and had only made 2014 payroll through “sheer luck.” Yost then termed that luck “unlikely to continue.” Among the reasons: East Cleveland could no longer repair its streets because key equipment had broken down; two neighboring cities had canceled mutual fire aid agreements because East Cleveland no longer had a working ladder truck; and all city cellphones had been shut off for nonpayment.
Yost warned that, despite aggressive cost cutting, the city simply would be unable to dig out without a new financial plan that slashed outlays even further to address East Cleveland’s persistent structural deficits, declining revenues and unexpected expenses.
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