(A) Any one of the following conditions constitutes grounds for a fiscal watch:

(1) The existence of either of the following situations:

(a) All accounts that were due and payable from the general fund of a municipal corporation, county, or township at the end of the preceding fiscal year that had been due and payable for at least thirty days at the end of the fiscal year or to which a penalty was added for failure to pay by the end of the fiscal year, less the year-end balance in the general fund, exceeded one-twelfth of the general fund budget for that year.

(b) All accounts that were due and payable at the end of the preceding fiscal year from all funds of the municipal corporation, county, or township and that had been due and payable for at least thirty days at the end of the fiscal year or to which a penalty was added for failure to pay by the end of the fiscal year, less the year-end balance in the general fund and in the respective special funds available to pay those accounts, exceeded one-twelfth of the available revenues during the preceding fiscal year, excluding nonrecurring receipts, of the general fund and of all special funds from which those accounts are payable.

(2) The aggregate of deficit amounts of all deficit funds at the end of the preceding fiscal year, less the total of any year-end balance in the general fund and in any special fund that may be transferred as provided in section 5705.14 of the Revised Code to meet that deficit, exceeded one-twelfth of the total of the general fund budget for that year and the receipts to those deficit funds during that year other than from transfers from the general fund.

(3) At the end of the preceding fiscal year, moneys and marketable investments in or held for the unsegregated treasury of the municipal corporation, county, or township, minus outstanding checks and warrants, were less in amount than the aggregate of the positive balances of the general fund and those special funds, the purposes of which the unsegregated treasury is held to meet, and that deficiency exceeded one-twelfth of the total amount received into the unsegregated treasury during the preceding fiscal year.

(4) Based on an examination of the financial forecast approved by the legislative authority of a municipal corporation, county, or township, the auditor of state certifies that the general fund deficit at the end of the current fiscal year will exceed one-twelfth of the general fund revenue from the preceding fiscal year.

(B) As used in this section, "accounts" includes, but is not limited to, final judgments, fringe benefits payments due and payable, amounts due and payable to persons and other governmental entities, and any interest and penalties on those judgments, payments, or amounts. Accounts that are due and payable do not include any account, or portion of any account, that is being contested in good faith.

Effective Date: 05-30-2002.