GIRARD, Ohio - A newly-released audit of the Girard city schools found its former treasurer, Mark Bello, was paid nearly twice as much as had previously been uncovered after a creative change in contract language.

21 News was the first to report in a Watchdog Report in 2024 that Bello was paid $461,187 for the fiscal year 2023, which included a base salary of $118,078, but also included an additional $325,918 because, at the time the school board approved a new contract for Bello, a key line was changed.

Bello's previous contract had allowed for him to receive 2.5 percent of any grants he brought into the district.

Under his new contract, approved as a part of a retire/rehire agreement in June of 2022, that language was amended to say that Bello would receive one percent of "all feder

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