MAHONING COUNTY High court sides with officials on hearings

Judges can't mandate a budget hearing, the court ruled.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- If Judge Timothy P. Maloney of Mahoning County Probate Court wants a hearing to discuss his annual budget, it will have to be in the county commissioners' office, not in his courtroom.
That's what the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision it handed down Wednesday.
The high court said commissioners have exclusive authority to conduct budget hearings for all county departments, including the courts.
"The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the commissioners' position that they are responsible for the budgeting process," said county Administrator Gary Kubic. "Everything else results from that very first step."
Judge Maloney ordered commissioners to appear before him in September, and to bring with them "all records and memoranda required to allow the court and the commissioners to have a meaningful hearing concerning the court's 2004 [budget] appropriation."
Hearing blocked
Commissioners had already scheduled a series of public hearings to discuss 2004 budget requests, including one for the probate court. Prosecutor Paul Gains, on behalf of commissioners, successfully sought a Supreme Court order temporarily blocking the court hearing.
Gains argued that budget hearings are within the scope of commissioners' duties and that the judge overstepped his bounds by trying to force them to conduct an in-court budget hearing.
In its ruling Wednesday, the Supreme Court held that while judges have authority to mandate funding for their courts -- as long as the amount is determined to be reasonable and necessary -- they still must honor commissioners' status as the county budgeting authority.
"Courts should cooperate with the executive and legislative bodies in the budget process," the high court wrote in its opinion. "Conducting a budget hearing is a manifestly legislative function."
The high court said judges should therefore cooperate with the legislative budget process.
"That's the way it should be," Kubic said. "To circumvent that process basically circumvents the separation of powers that is necessary to have balance in government."
Accepts decision
Judge Maloney said he accepts the decision and was glad to see that the high court underscored the fact that commissioners are required to hold a budget hearing.
"That was my point in ordering them in," he said. "I was concerned that they would cancel their hearing, which they did."
Atty. John B. Juhasz, who represents Judge Maloney, said he has sent a letter to commissioners asking that the probate court's budget hearing for 2004 be reinstated.
In December, Judge Maloney ordered commissioners to budget $922,000 for probate court operation this year. When commissioners appropriated only $750,000, the judge filed a lawsuit with the high court, which ruled in September that the county must provide the requested amount.
bjackson@vindy.com