MAHONING COUNTY Change will add $1M to budget

The judges want their money by Thursday.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County commissioners should have nearly $1 million more to spend by the end of the year, but that's not enough to satisfy a court judgment against them.
The county budget commission amended the county's certificate of anticipated revenue this week to include the additional money, which Auditor George Tablack said will come from a variety of sources.
It's up to county commissioners to decide how to spend the money, which comes just as they are under the gun to provide about $2.4 million in additional funding to the county juvenile and probate courts.
The courts sued in January to force commissioners to increase their budget appropriations for the year. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled last week that commissioners must honor the budget requests, which will increase the juvenile court budget by $2.3 million and the probate court budget by about $172,200.
Atty. John B. Juhasz, who represented the judges in the lawsuits, sent a letter Wednesday to Prosecutor Paul Gains, demanding that the additional money be made available to the courts no later than Thursday.
Juhasz wrote in his letter that it has been two weeks since the high court's ruling and it's time for commissioners to come up with the money.
"Further delays are no longer tolerable," he wrote.
County Administrator Gary Kubic said commissioners will spend the next few days going over the general fund budget, looking for money to cut from other departments so they can satisfy the courts' demands.
He said commissioners are most concerned about the juvenile court judgment because it's by far the highest.
The amended certificate of revenue approved by the budget commission shows projected increases in collections from recorder fees, cost allocation, permissive real estate taxes, court fines and other sources.
The certificate also projects decreases in other funds, with a bottom-line difference of $936,736. That will increase the overall revenue projection from $47,786,995 to $48,723,731 for the year.
Tablack said the budget commission -- which consists of the auditor, prosecutor and treasurer -- generally evaluates the county's financial situation after the third quarter of each year. If there are any noticeable revenue trends, the certificate can be adjusted up or down.
He said commissioners should consider whether they want to continue setting aside a portion of sales tax revenue each year for economic development.
When commissioners campaigned for passage of a 0.5 percent sales tax in 1999, they pledged to set aside a percentage for distribution back to townships and municipalities for economic development projects. The county engineer also gets a cut of the revenue to enhance its annual paving program.
According to figures from the auditor's office, slightly more than $3 million a year is earmarked for community development. Tablack said that's about the same amount that the county's cash balance has decreased each year since 1999.
"I understand they're good projects. Who could be against paved roads?" Tablack said. "We've got a revenue-sharing program going on here, but at what cost?"
Commissioners have said they will not break their promise to distribute that money back to the townships and municipalities.
bjackson@vindy.com