VALLEY SENIORS Private agency, public funding

There's no plan yet for the use of the proposed levy funds.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A private nonprofit agency is proposing it control about $34 million in public funds if voters in Mahoning and Trumbull County each approve a levy for senior citizen services.
"We have tentative ideas without anything definite being attached to it," said Deanna Clifford, the District XI Area Agency on Aging's director of community relations.
The proposals are the opposite of what happens in Ashtabula County, which the district also serves along with Columbiana County.
Ashtabula has a levy for seniors, but monitors and spends through a county agency, Clifford said.
District XI receives only a small amount from the Ashtabula County levy for a part-time ombudsman, Clifford said. The district gets funds from federal and state sources.
District XI last week proposed levies in Trumbull and Mahoning counties. The commissioners in both counties must vote before the end of the year to place 1-mill, five-year levies on the March 2 ballot.
If approved by voters, the levy would generate $3 million a year in Trumbull County, and about $3.8 million a year in Mahoning County. That's about $34 million over the five-year life of the proposed levies.
Current situation
District XI now contracts with programs that provide services to seniors. The agency would continue to do that with the levy funds and wouldn't begin running programs and providing assistance directly, Clifford said.
Efforts would be made to "report back to taxpayers" and be "as open as possible," Clifford added.
District XI's board would make funding decisions. The board consists of 17 members: one county commissioner from each county, one representative from the largest city in each county, (Youngstown, Warren, Ashtabula and East Liverpool,) eight at-large members, and the chairman of the district's advisory council.
The district's tentative plan calls for the creation of a second advisory committee to comment on proposed uses of the levy funds.
Clifford noted the situation is confusing, and that a public awareness effort is planned about the levies as well as the agency.
The agency serves those 60 and older. U.S. Census data counts senior citizens as those 65 and older.
Aging population
Mahoning and Trumbull counties are first and second in the state, respectively, for percentage of senior citizens in urban counties in Ohio, Clifford said.
District XI is seeking the funds because of the aging population and less funding for senior programs.
Gary Kubic, the Mahoning County administrator, said that when it came to public revenue, "Accountability is a given."
Still, Kubic said it was unlikely the commissioners will have an agreement with District XI prepared over the use of the funds by this week, when the commissioners will consider placing the issue on the ballot. He added that the county may have a list of the principles that would guide the use of the funds.
It was not clear if Trumbull County was preparing a similar agreement with District XI.
The levies and agreements are an example of a public-private partnership, Kubic said.
Full accounting on some projects involving some public funds, such as football stadiums, is not entirely public. And not all public agencies with accountability do a good job, he added.
wilkinson@vindy.com