TOLEDO, Ohio — George Sarantou, Toledo's former finance director, pulled petitions to run for mayor Tuesday morning.
Sarantou stepped down from his role as finance director back in 2017. The resignation came after the city found $8.2 million in the budget sitting idle. Sarantou said during his resignation that he believed he was not "in any way, the cause of these issues" and a probe also found the funds were simply not put where they were supposed to go.
In addition to his bid for mayor, the Republican is also eyeing a run for city council.
"I'm carefully considering either one. Also, I want to get feedback from the citizenry and the voters and find out how they feel about that because I think that's important," Sarantou said. "Government should always be representative government in the United States. I think this is a golden opportunity to basically see what people think and how they think I can best serve the city."
Following Sarantou's announcement Tuesday, the Lucas County Democratic Party released this statement:
"Republican George Sarantou is a decent man and we welcome him to the campaign trail. His claim of financial expertise is tough to swallow. Toledoans should think twice before returning someone with a history of financial mismanagement back to City Hall. Remember, George’s tenure as Toledo’s Finance Director was a disaster. He resigned in disgrace after $8.2 million sat idle in city coffers without any clear explanation.
Democrats have a record of good fiscal management, investing in the things that matter to Toledo’s working families. We need Democratic leadership on City Council and in the Mayor’s office this year, not the failed Republican leadership of the Party of Trump -- like George Sarantou."
In 2017, a co-chair of the city's finance committee said "nothing nefarious" took place to cause the $8.2 million to sit uncategorized in the budget.
"The transfer of money is a complicated thing, and I think we've figured it out. Nothing nefarious has happened and we will continue to serve the public with the amount of money that we take in," said Tom Waniewski, vice chair of the Toledo City Council Finance Committee said after a report from Justice Andy Douglas that dissected the city budget.
Douglas found the $8.2 million was not new or extra money, just some of the funds simply weren't put where they were supposed to go. He said at the time that no one misled voters, rather it happened because so many people were in and out of leadership roles and the proper communication didn't happen.
Sarantou has said that he and the former city auditor were not made aware of the money in the budget when taking over from the administration of former Mayor Mike Bell and when he and the auditor discovered the discrepancy, it was reported to the state and dealt with appropriately.
WTOL 11 reached out Tuesday to the Lucas County Republican Party for comment, though calls were not immediately returned.