MAHONING COUNTY Budget panel OKs plan to recall deputies

All deputies should be recalled by June 1, the sheriff said.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Nearly 50 deputies should be back on the job next week with the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department.
The county budget commission voted Tuesday to amend the county's certificate of estimated revenue for the year, adding $850,000 to the total originally projected earlier this year.
The increase will be brought about by an agreement between Sheriff Randall Wellington and the U.S. Marshals Service for housing federal inmates in the county jail.
Fifty-four deputies were laid off in March because of countywide budget reductions. Since then, Wellington has been trying to find ways to increase revenue for his department so he can recall them.
Wellington said five furloughed deputies were brought back recently to fill vacancies created by deputies who are on medical leave. After Tuesday's budget commission action, he said the remaining 49 deputies should be recalled by June 1.
"That's the plan -- bringing all of them back," Wellington said.
Federal inmates
The county gets paid $67 per day per inmate for housing federal inmates at the county jail. These are inmates who are either waiting for an appearance in federal court or waiting to be sentenced.
Wellington said the federal government has agreed to increase the payment to $77 per day. He said federal authorities also have pledged to bring more inmates here, which also will generate additional revenue.
That additional money will be pumped back into the sheriff's department to pay the laid-off deputies once they are recalled.
Wellington said he expects to bring in an additional $2.8 million next year through the proposal. That's based on keeping an average of 70 federal inmates per day in the jail this year and 100 per day next year.
No guarantees
Auditor George Tablack stressed that the inmate population is only an estimate and that the Marshals Service can't guarantee a certain number of inmates to any county. He said the budget commission will closely monitor the revenue coming in for federal prisoners.
If the revenue doesn't keep up with the projection, the commission will probably meet again and consider decreasing the certificate of revenue.
"We'll judge it as it goes forth," Tablack said. "We're certainly sensitive to the delicate balance we're trying to strike here."
Tablack, Prosecutor Paul Gains and Treasurer John Reardon make up the budget commission.
Tablack stressed that Mahoning isn't trying to compete with Trumbull County, which also houses federal inmates.
County Administrator Gary Kubic said local inmates won't be released from the jail to make room for the additional federal inmates. Commissioners approved funding earlier this year for installation of extra bunks so two local inmates can be held in certain cells instead of just one.
bjackson@vindy.com