Fiscal Office


Denise Joseph 
Canfield Township Fiscal Officer
(Term expires 4/01/24)

The TOWNSHIP FISCAL OFFICER is an elected official and is independent of the township trustees; yet by law, he or she must work closely with the trustees. The trustees have the legislative authority in the township, and the Fiscal Officer must keep an accurate record of all township accounts and transactions. It is the responsibility of the Fiscal Officer to comply strictly with the legal requirements set for the position’s duties, to establish and practice rules for efficient management of the office, and to follow good accounting practices in maintaining records and accounts.

The Ohio Revised Code states several required duties of the Fiscal Officer including, but not limited to:

  • keeping an accurate record of the proceedings of Board of Township Trustee meetings
  • keeping accurate records of all the accounts and transactions of the township trustees
  • issuing all checks
  • preparing payroll

Each year the Fiscal Office must prepare an estimate of the revenues and expenditures for the next succeeding year and submit it to the county auditor. Once this is done, a resolution is passed by the trustees that formally adopts the budget as revised and approved by the County Budget Commission.

Accounting and all financial affairs of Canfield Township are handled by the Fiscal Officer. Monies are obtained from personal and property taxes, the local government fund, gasoline and motor vehicle taxes, motor vehicle permissive tax, motel permissive tax, fees, fines and assessments.

Ohio Checkbook

Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office

Lighting District Information

All Lighting Districts are processed by the Fiscal Office. When a residential area petitions the Board of Trustees for street lights, the Fiscal Officer verifies all property owners by checking court records. Then the board notifies Ohio Edison of the need for lights, advises residents of a public hearing and levies assessments.

If you are interested in starting a lighting district petition, please click on the Street Lighting Petition Procedure for Canfield Township.

If you still have questions, please contact the Fiscal Officer by email at denise@canfieldtownship.org

 

Commonly Asked Questions

To preserve and encourage openness, the Ohio General Assembly passed the Open Meetings and Public Records acts, collectively known as the Sunshine Laws. More information about what the Sunshine Laws entail can be found at the Attorney General’s website.

Canfield Township receives its revenue from Property Taxes paid to the Mahoning County Auditor on property owned in Canfield Township.

Unless otherwise exempt, a public record is a record kept by a public office, including but not limited to: state, county, city, village, township and school district units, and records pertaining to the delivery of educational services by an alternative school in Ohio kept by a non-profit or for-profit entity.

A “record” is any item that:

  • contains information stored on a fixed medium (such as paper, computer, film, etc.)
  • is created, received or sent under the jurisdiction of a public office; and
  • documents the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or other activities of the office

The determination of whether a specific item constitutes a record will depend on the facts and circumstances surrounding the particular item requested. The Ohio Supreme Court has imposed an actual use standard in defining a record. The court expressly rejected the notion that an item is a record simply because the public office could use a document it has received to carry out its duties and responsibilities. Similarly, allegedly racist e-mails circulated between public employees are not records when they were not used to conduct the business of the public office.

The budget report for Canfield Township is currently available by request and will be soon available on this website.

In order to obtain inspection of a public record, a requester must simply request such access to the public record. Although no specific language is required to make a request, the requester must at least identify the records requested with sufficient clarity so that the public office can identify, retrieve and review the records.