Officials to return salary overpayments

The prosecutor's office says a trustee must reimburse the township or it will sue.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- Township Trustee Patrick F. Durina is appealing a state auditor's ruling that resulted in his being overpaid by more than $5,000.
"I want somebody other than me to pay it," Durina said. "It's a predicament for me."
The Trumbull County prosecutor's office says Durian must reimburse the township $5,083.
That office has also informed township administrator Patrick J. Ungaro that money wrongfully received must be paid back promptly "to avoid formal litigation" to recover it.
John Fusco, township clerk, said he is returning $881 at the rate of $33 each bimonthly pay.
Trustees Jack Simon and W. Gary Litch are having their pays adjusted as well.
Fusco said a state auditor told him he and trustees were entitled to pay raises because on March 14, 2002, the township's budget increased to $10.3 million. The township had received an unusually large inheritance tax payment.
Salaries of trustees and clerks are based on the size of a township's budget. They become eligible for a wage increase at the $10 million mark.
Fusco said the auditor's office changed its opinion when the 2003 budget dropped to $8.8 million.
"Evidently, they made a mistake," Fusco said.
Durina doesn't blame Fusco for the overpayments because the clerk had approval of the state auditor to pay the increases. "Fusco did nothing wrong," he said.
Ungaro sought an opinion from the prosecutor's office concerning the raises granted to Durina and Fusco.
What caused this
In his Jan. 21 opinion, Atty. James T. Saker, chief of the prosecutor's civil division, ruled a change in state law allowed for midterm increases for township officeholders who took office after 2000.
Fusco and Durina weren't entitled to the increase, Saker ruled, because they can't receive raises in midterm.
Durina and Fusco began serving their four-year terms Jan. 1, 2000.
The question of midterm increases didn't affect Simon and Litch because they began their new terms Jan. 1, 2002.
When the budget fell under the $10 million level this year, the annual salaries of Simon and Litch were supposed to return to $14,000 from $18,000.
Fusco said that as a result, Simon and Litch were each overpaid $623 in January and February -- the money they are repaying.
When Durina didn't make arrangements to reimburse the township, Fusco, Ungaro, Litch and Ungaro sent Durino a June 3 letter saying he owes the money and should make plans to repay it.
"We respectfully request that you make your plans clear to the board [of trustees] how you plan to reimburse the township in either a payment plan or a lump sum to avoid legal action from the prosecutor," they wrote.
Durina said he wants the person in the state auditor's office who made the mistake to pay for it by reimbursing what he owes the township.
Durina says the entire issue is politics because he's seeking re-election this year.
Nonetheless, Durina said that if his appeal fails, he will reimburse the township.
Simon said he understands Durina's problem because he doesn't have a steady job, but he trusts Durina will repay the money.
yovich@vindy.com