East Cleveland, a city of 17,000 people, is considering whether to file for municipal bankruptcy, which would be a first for an Ohio municipality, the Columbus Dispatch reported today. The Cleveland suburb has been under a state-ordered fiscal emergency since 2012, which means a fiscal commission oversees the city’s finances and works with officials to devise a recovery plan. East Cleveland was under a fiscal emergency from 1988 until 2006, the longest in state history. The city’s financial woes have reached a point where the head of the fiscal commission doesn’t think bankruptcy would even help. Sharon Hanrahan of the Office of Management and Budget said that she’s concerned the city won’t have enough cash in the bank to make payroll for the first pay period of 2015. Mayor Gary Norton said a bankruptcy filing is being considered.
