State Auditor Mary Taylor has placed Federal Hocking Local School District into a fiscal watch because the district failed to complete a financial plan to minimize a growing debt that is predicted to reach $1.8 million next fiscal year.

Federal Hocking must create a financial plan to reduce the debt or the district will be placed in fiscal emergency at the end of 120 days, said Emily Frazee, deputy press secretary for the auditor’s office.

Although the district will try to prepare a financial plan in the next 60 days, district Treasurer Bruce Steenrod said a fiscal emergency “is very likely at this point.”

A fiscal emergency would allow the district to access future property tax revenue from the Ohio Department of Education to fund basic operations — money the district will most likely need by July, Steenrod said.