MAHONING COUNTY An uphill battle on court financing

The law letting courts mandate budgets is based on the separation of powers.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- If Mahoning County commissioners pursue a change in the law that allows courts to mandate budgets, they might as well brace for a losing battle, legal and legislative officials say.
"The cards are stacked against them," said Brad Cole, senior policy analyst with the County Commissioners Association of Ohio.
Commissioners said last week that they think a change is needed because the law allowing courts to mandate funding is unfair. They said the law undercuts commissioners' authority as holders of the purse strings.
Judges Theresa Dellick of juvenile court and Timothy P. Maloney of probate court sued commissioners in January, seeking to force commissioners to restore funding that was cut from their court operations in the budgeting process.
Judge Dellick asked for $6.9 million but was budgeted $4.6 million for this year. Judge Maloney asked for $922,196 but was budgeted only $750,000. Commissioners had cut funding to all county offices because of a lack of growth in revenue.
High court ruling
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled last week that the judges' budget requests were not unreasonable and that commissioners must obey their court orders. Commissioners now are scrambling to find the additional money, which they have said isn't available.
Under Ohio law, commissioners are designated the budgeting authority for county government. The courts, though, have authority to mandate their funding through a court order. Commissioners say such actions undermine the budgeting process and make it difficult to create a financial plan.
But changing the law that allows courts to mandate their funding will be a monumental -- if not impossible -- task, officials say.
"It's very frustrating," Cole said. "These court orders have been happening for years, but I don't know how you address it."
Separation of powers
State Sen. Mark Dann of Liberty, D-32nd, said the Ohio Constitution guarantees a separation of powers among the judicial and legislative branches of government.
"That's so one branch can't weaken or eliminate the other by starving it financially," said Dr. William Binning, chairman of the political science department at Youngstown State University. "The court will jealously guard its authority."
Commissioners acknowledged that the separation of powers is necessary and shouldn't be changed. But they think the law should be changed that places the onus on commissioners in such cases to prove that a court's budget request is unreasonable and excessive.
The burden of proof should fall to the courts to justify their budget requests, commissioners said.
"That's already been tried," said Linette Stratford, chief assistant in the county prosecutor's civil division. "The [Ohio] Supreme Court shot it down."
She said the law was changed some 19 years ago, placing the burden of proof on the courts. That legislation was challenged, though, and found unconstitutional, Stratford said.
"Judges are granted wide discretion in determining their needs," Prosecutor Paul Gains said. "It's a fact of life. It's the law."
Frustration
Cole said it's a frustrating problem for commissioners all over the state because when courts sue and win, commissioners have no choice but to come up with the money.
"Commissioners have to balance their budget, and they only have a limited amount of resources to work with," Cole said. "When they lose a decision like that, the money has to come from somewhere to fund it."
County Administrator Gary Kubic suggested that the law be changed to allow a jury of citizens instead of judges to decide budget matters.
Dann said that as a legislator, he's willing to sit down with local officials and listen to suggestions about ways to improve the system. Changing the law as it stands, though, doesn't seem likely.
In the meantime, he said officials should try to work out their differences amicably instead of in court.
"There is nothing that prevents the judges and political leaders from working constructively together," Dann said. "We shouldn't need a law to resolve things like this."
bjackson@vindy.com