New Carlisle Finance Director Colleen Harris with Joe Braden, director of regional liaisons for the Auditor of State Keith Faber, who presented the Ohio Auditor of State Award for a clean audit during a city council meeting. CONTRIBUTED
The city of New Carlisle and its finance director Colleen Harris were awarded the Ohio Auditor of State Award for the first time, which is “substantial” after having financial challenges for many years in the past, according to the city manager.
“From my perspective, I believe a major Achilles Heel for a city manager is ethical financial management,” said Don Hall.
“Knowing I have a state award winning finance team in my corner gives me not only peace of mind but keeps me focused on the exciting ever-changing development of New Carlisle. New Carlisle would not be rapidly developing and have a seat at the table with major investors without the financial stewardship of Ms. Harris and her team.”
Harris’ history with New Carlisle started in July 2001 when she was hired as the assistant finance director to help with payroll and accounts payable, she said, while the then finance director was to focus on balancing the city’s books, she said. However, she said “progress was not effective” and she resigned in late 2002 to help save some money.
“By the end of 2002, the city’s finances were not balanced and the cash was depleting, leaving the city in a negative financial situation,” she said.
Harris explained the state then issued a fiscal watch that lasted from June 2003, until June 2008, the same year the then finance director and city manager were relieved of their duties. A new interim city manager was appointed and Harris was asked to come back as the city’s interim finance director until a new one was hired in 2004.
At the end of the fiscal watch in 2008, the general fund had a balance of $250,000. From 2008-14 with the new finance director and city manager, Harris said the balance was growing until the overspending started again.
“At the end of 2014, the estimated ending in the general fund was projected to be in the negative and would put the city back in fiscal watch,” she said.
That finance director left in March 2014 and Harris was hired to be the full-time finance director. At that time, “knowing we needed more funding quickly,” the city asked for a 0.5% income tax to fund the police department instead of the general fund supporting the costs of it, which passed and recovery started.
With the new income tax, the 2014 general fund ended with a positive balance at $52,000.
“Each year since 2014, the general fund has grown. The expenses are watched very closely, and at the end of 2025, the general fund’s ending balance was $2.7 million,” Harris said.
Hall said Harris is a treasure for the community and will have a long-lasting legacy that “steered financial ship through troubled waters and found peaceful seas on the other side of the storm.”
Joe Braden, director of regional liaisons for the Auditor of State Keith Faber, presented the award to Harris last month during a city council meeting. He said the award is presented to local governments and school districts upon completion of a financial audit that meeting specific criteria of a clean audit report.
“It has been the highlight of my career. All finance director’s work hard to have a perfect audit every year. It takes a team to come together in all departments to achieve the award yearly. I am thankful for our team,” Harris said.
Braden said it was important to note this award puts New Carlisle in a very select group. He said the Auditor of State’s Office audits about 4,200 entities each year of the 60,000 total entities they audit, and very few of them are eligible for this award.
“This award represents the hard work of all the city of New Carlisle employees and the financial staff that make an effort each day to attain county excellence,” he said, recognizing council members, the mayor, city manager and others.
“Everyone here that has done an outstanding job watching over the dollars here in the city of New Carlisle. But specifically, I would like to recognize Colleen Harris, your financing director, for her outstanding leadership, her professionalism and her exceptional commitment to fiscal integrity.”
Mayor Bill Lindsey thanked Harris for her hard work.
“Today, under your watch, we have $2.7 million that we started this year off with. That didn’t’ come easy for Mrs. Harris or the council’s present and past to get there. It took a lot of hard work on her and her staff to get us there and for councils to listen to her,” he said.