MAHONING COUNTY State cuts' pinch to go on

The actual dollar amount of the state cut to local governments doubles in 2004.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- An 8-percent state funding cut is no fun for any local government.
But those percentage points add up in actual dollars, creating financial pain particularly for already-struggling governments.
The cut means tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars less that cities, townships and counties must face immediately. In total, Mahoning County governments will lose more than $1 million in state aid this year and $2 million in 2004.
"It's so hard to deal with something like that," said Campbell Mayor Jack Dill. "It's something you can't really adjust for. You have to hope you can absorb it and address it next year."
The recently approved two-year state budget cuts the local government fund by 8 percent for all municipalities. It could have been worse. Legislators first talked about eliminating the entire fund.
Looking ahead
Next year will be twice as bad in actual dollars.
This year, the reduction applied only to aid for the last half of 2003. The dollar amount of the cut doubles in 2004 when applying the reduction to a full year of funding.
Campbell loses $26,472 this year and twice that in 2004.
That's a lot of money to a small city, Dill said. The city could pay several firefighters or police officers with that money, he said. Campbell may scrap plans for a water or sewer line because the aid cuts leave the city without enough matching money for its portion of a project.
"What do you do?" he asked.
The cut is hard for governments big or small.
The state introduced the funding as a way to get support from localities for income tax, said Trumbull County Auditor David Hines.
"This is really hard for the townships we have up north. The little townships really depend on this," he said. "To me, this is a shame. The bigger townships, they have levies on so it won't be so bad, but the smaller townships really need it."
Youngstown's loss
Youngstown won't get $252,468 from the state local government fund that was budgeted for 2003 budget. The city -- which still has workers laid off -- will absorb the revenue loss by cutting personnel through attrition, said David Bozanich, city finance director.
Midyear funding cuts are especially irritating because there is little time to make changes, he said.
"This is a good example of how you planned, then action by the Legislature throws it to the wayside," Bozanich said.
He isn't sure how the city will handle the $500,000-plus cut next year in the 2004 budget.
Austintown heard the rumors about possible state cuts and dropped its revenue projection for aid in its 2003 budget.
Nonetheless, a $51,197 cut this year and $100,000 more the next mean that cuts may come at some point in the future, said Michael Dockry, township administrator.
The township has cut services to the minimum, so workers take the brunt of such drops in aid, he said. The township still has two police officers, a mechanic and an office worker on layoff.
"It's just another hit," Dockry said.
rgsmith@vindy.com
XCONTRIBUTOR: Stephen Siff of the Trumbull staff.