MAHONING COUNTY Tablack: I foresaw financial problems
Auditor George Tablack said the budget crisis that hit the county was unavoidable.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County's auditor says the financial plight plaguing the county didn't come as a surprise to him.
George Tablack says he told commissioners two years ago, when times were good, that they should reduce spending and prepare for when the lean times hit.
"To me, this situation was not only apparent, but avoidable," Tablack said.
But commissioners said they did take steps to cut costs. The problem, they said, is the ballooning cost of criminal justice and a lack of jobs to generate tax revenue.
The county's 2003 general fund budget passed last week by commissioners is about $10 million less than this year's budget.
Commissioners pointed to a decrease in sales tax revenue and interest earnings, and an increase in the amount of money required to fund the criminal justice system.
Commissioners have recently begun meeting with Sheriff Randall Wellington and court officials to talk about ways to reduce the number of inmates held in the county jail.
They've also told officeholders to cut their budgets by 20 percent for next year.
Looking back
Tablack agreed that all those things are necessary. Given the county's extremely tight finances, cuts would still have to be made now, but could have been softened if moves had been made earlier, he said.
Hiring a budget director to keep a daily handle on the dollars-and-cents matters of the county is a good move that will pay off, Tablack said.
He said commissioners should have started cutting back two years ago instead of dipping into a cash reserve for operating expenses.
"You've got to stop the bleeding," Tablack said. "You can't continue to lose money year after year."
Tablack said he wants to sit down with commissioners early next year and start mapping a financial strategy for recovery.
Commissioner Ed Reese said Tablack has spoken only "in casual conversations" about budget matters.
"I never heard him say 'stop the bleeding,'" Reese said.
He said commissioners have been well aware of the softening economy, which was compounded by the loss of an estimated $21 million while a pair of 0.5-percent county sales taxes were voted on and off the books.
Where money went
County Administrator Gary Kubic and Commissioners David Ludt and Vicki Allen Sherlock agreed that commissioners have spent money the past two years, but said it was mostly for capital improvement projects that could no longer be put off, like building repairs.
"I think we have been very prudent in our spending," Sherlock said. "I don't think there has been anything that was not appropriate."
Kubic said commissioners have also invested in technology because they believe it will save money over the long haul.
He said commissioners began in 2000, asking Wellington to trim his budget by some $1.5 million for 2001, and have asked him to cut costs every year since then.
The sheriff's department is the county's most expensive department because it operates the county jail. Kubic said the cost of fighting crime has risen sharply over the past two years, which is part of the reason for the budget problems.
Another reason is that by pouring so much money into crime-fighting, there is no money left to develop business in the area.
"What this points to is a lack of enterprise in this area to generate wealth and opportunity for economic growth," Kubic said. "Most of our dollars are in reaction to the crime problem, which leaves us little money to put toward solving it."
Ludt said he meets frequently with Tablack, and that the auditor has mentioned in the past that the county needs to make some changes, but he never offered specific recommendations.
"What we need to do right now is work together and not pick on each other," Ludt said.
bjackson@vindy.com