Monday, December 24, 2001
Ohio Auditor Jim Petro is expected to announce the final audit report Jan. 9.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A long-awaited review of Mahoning County government services is nearly finished, but state and county officials are keeping mum about it.
County commissioners enlisted the Ohio Auditor's Office last year to conduct a performance audit of five prongs of county government. The top priority was a comprehensive review of compensation and salary ranges, job classifications and descriptions, staffing levels and turnover, training, personnel policies and benefit programs in all departments.
Also included in the audit were the board of elections, the county's area court system, the sheriff's department and the juvenile court. The cost was $250,000. Commissioners say the audit will give them a blueprint for more efficient government.
To be released Jan. 9: The final audit report is to be made public Jan. 9, said Kim Norris of the state auditor's office. Auditor Jim Petro is expected to come to the county and announce the report himself.
The auditor's staff met with county officials Wednesday to go over the final draft copy of the report. It was their last chance to discuss what they perceived as errors and ask auditors to correct them before the audit is made public.
The Vindicator obtained a copy of the draft's executive summary, though neither Norris nor county officials would talk about it because it is a working document and its recommendations are subject to revision before the final release. The full document is about 2 inches thick.
Norris said a performance audit is different from a traditional financial audit in that it examines policies and procedures rather than fiscal figures.
"It's focused more on saving tax dollars and being efficient," she said.
Auditors compared Mahoning County's operation with Trumbull, Lorain and Stark counties.
Personnel department: The draft report recommends that the county make improvements in its personnel department, including hiring two more employees and implementing an across-the-board employee co-payment for health-care coverage.
A $6 monthly co-payment has been negotiated into some union contracts but not into others, the report says. But in the eight departments that have a co-payment, it's not being deducted from employees' paychecks.
The county could save nearly $104,000 a year by negotiating the co-payment into all of its union contracts, the report says.
The report is also critical of the county's management of workers' compensation, saying it has been "historically inefficient" and has had an annual increase in its penalty rating.
Commissioners have already taken steps to correct that problem and have said they're seeing positive results. The prosecutor's office took over the job of managing workers' comp claims instead of hiring a private consultant to do it.
At the recommendation of Prosecutor Paul Gains, commissioners also hired an in-house risk manager. The county's claims costs this year are less than $100,000, compared with nearly $475,000 last year.
The county's employee compensation packages and methods for establishing base salaries are inconsistent among county departments and should be standardized, the report says. For example, some departments pay all or part of their employees' Public Employees Retirement System contribution, while others pay none.
Area courts: The report also recommends that Mahoning County replace the part-time judges who preside over area courts in Austintown, Boardman, Canfield and Sebring with full-time ones. It also says the county could save money by consolidating the courts.
It suggests either eliminating just the Sebring court or closing all four and housing them all in one location. A total consolidation would save about $256,800 a year in rent expenses, which could be used to cover the cost of a new building, the report says.
The county's corrections planning board has already taken steps to replace the four part-time judges with three full-time. There is also discussion about consolidating the courts, though nothing is planned for several years.
Under the proposed plan, Austintown and Boardman would have their own full-time judge, while the third would split time between Canfield and Sebring.
Clerk of Courts Anthony Vivo said he favors that plan more than closing the Sebring facility altogether. Forcing people from the western part of the county to drive to Youngstown would create a hardship, he said.
Other recommendations in the report include implementation of a pay-for-stay program at the county jail. That's a program in which inmates are billed for their incarceration. Such a program could bring in an estimated $87,000 a year, the report says.
Billing city, U.S.: It also says the county bills Youngstown and the federal government $75 and $67 a day, respectively, for housing their inmates in the county jail. The problem is that it costs about $89 a day to incarcerate city inmates and $83 a day for federal inmates, so the county is losing money.
The report suggests that the county begin charging enough to cover its costs. Sheriff Randall Wellington declined to comment until after the final audit report comes out.
County Administrator Gary Kubic would not comment on the report but said he's looking forward to having the final results in han1d so the county can examine the recommendations for ways to improve government.
"It's a healthy process," Kubic said. "It's an opportunity for us to have another set of eyes look at what we're doing."
Norris said the audit's final recommendations are intended as a guide, not a mandate. The county won't be expected to adopt every recommendation in the report.
bjackson@vindy.com