MAHONING COUNTY Unclaimed funds viewed as source to finance airport

The county auditor doesn't want to use the unclaimed funds for the airport.
By DAVID SKOLNICKand BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
YOUNGSTOWN -- Unclaimed funds owed by Mahoning County to people -- such as for court awards, estate settlements, witness fees and payroll -- could be used to fund the county's portion of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, said Commissioner Ed Reese.
The financially strapped county has about $900,000 worth of unclaimed funds, and county officials are considering a proposal to move that money into the general fund.
Reese said he favors the plan, and wants to use about $400,000 to pay for the county's share of operating expenses for the airport for the next two years, and another $400,000 or so toward the proposed Centerpointe business park in Austintown.
The commissioners are meeting today to discuss the Centerpointe project and a plan to have the county back $3 million to $4 million in 20-year bonds for the park.
Doesn't like idea
County Auditor George Tablack said he doesn't support using the unclaimed funds for the airport.
"I wouldn't want to use extraordinary revenues, one-time in nature, toward the operation of the airport," he said. "It's still our goal to find nongeneral fund and steady money" for the airport.
Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock also doesn't believe she would go along with using the money for the airport or Centerpointe. She said the county is facing an estimated $3 million shortfall by the end of this year, so commissioners should look at funding mandated services first.
"Any money that is made available, I think we need to look at long and hard for our mandated services," she said.
Airport funding has been a source of contention among the commissioners, who are divided as to how to come up with the county's $182,000 share of operating expenses, and even whether the money should be allocated.
Case for funding
Airport supporters say the county jeopardizes the future of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, which uses the airport's runways and pumps more than $80 million into the local economy, by not funding the airport in Vienna. They say the failure to fund the airport could give the federal government a reason to place the local air station on its base closing list, to be released in 2005.
County officials have been talking about transferring the unclaimed funds, which can legally be moved to the general fund after they remain unclaimed for five years, for several months.
The issue was brought to the forefront Wednesday after the Democrats of the 17th and 6th Districts, a local political organization, criticized the county for not releasing the unclaimed fund list to the public.
There are about 5,000 unclaimed fund accounts. Anyone with a legitimate claim to those funds can get them at any time, even if they have been spent by the county.
Mark Belinky, president of the organization, said it would be easy to track down many of the people on the list, including a number of lawyers with offices in downtown Youngstown. He said it is wrong for the county not to let people know they are owed money, or at the very least, make it known that the list exists. The organization posted the unclaimed funds list on its Web site, www.dems17.org/board.
"This money rightfully belongs to the people for whom the funds are being held, not for county operations," Belinky said.
Juvenile court
Reese said the money should be used for the airport, Centerpointe or other economic development projects. He dismissed the idea of using the unclaimed funds to increase funding for the county's juvenile court system. Judge Theresa Dellick is suing the commissioners to increase the court's budget this year from $4.6 million to $6.9 million.
"I'm not against using the unclaimed funds in the budget, but where we use it is the key," Reese said.
Tablack, who heads the county budget commission, says he supports transferring the unclaimed money to the general fund as long as county officials are cautious about it. Tablack said county officials need to assess how much of the money will be claimed by people, and how much realistically can be used for county operations.
"You don't want to use one-time sources of revenues for normal operational expenses because it gives people a false sense of funding," he said. "There are elements of risk involved. But the money is available, and it is an option."
skolnick@vindy.com