MAHONING COUNTY Auditor: Courts aren't to blame for budget woes

The county's bank account is dwindling fast, its auditor says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Mahoning County is in a financial crisis, but the courts' budget requests shouldn't be blamed for it, according to Auditor George Tablack.
"We have deflected attention toward the requests of two courts" that have little to do with the county's financial position, Tablack told a Tuesday evening meeting of the Democrats of the 17th and 6th districts.
"Our first and foremost responsibility, and where the majority of your general-fund money goes, is into the criminal justice system. When county government is mandated by state law to deal with our criminal justice element, I do not understand how we arrive at the conclusion that it's discretionary," he said.
The juvenile court offers the best chance to rehabilitate offenders, he said, noting that each career criminal costs society nearly $1 million. Mahoning County has one of the highest per capita crime rates and lowest tax bases in the state, he added.
To illustrate the county's financial crisis, he offered a chart showing that the county's general fund balance has fallen from nearly $18 million in 1999 to less than $6 million this year and is projected to dwindle to just over $2 million next year and nothing in 2005.
Court order
For this year, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered county commissioners to provide an additional $172,000 to Probate Judge Timothy Maloney, which they have provided, and an additional $2.3 million to Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick, which commissioners haven't provided because they say they can't afford it.
Judge Dellick has said she's willing to compromise on her request.
Lawyers for Judge Dellick filed a motion Friday asking the Ohio Supreme Court to find the county commissioners in contempt of court for not obeying the high court's order. The commissioners have 10 business days to respond in writing to that motion. The court will then decide whether to hold the commissioners in contempt and what penalty they will face.
Explaining their budgets
Judge Maloney said he began in 1997 by reducing the court's general fund budget to 20 percent below the 1996 budget of his predecessor, Judge Leo P. Morley. He noted that his budgets of about $920,000 each for 2003 and 2004 are a mere 3 percent higher than the 1996 figure, and that probate court spends just over 1 percent of the county's general fund.
Judge Dellick said her court maintains a detention center housing between 80 and 100 children, has about 700 juveniles on probation, and is responsible for custody, paternity, visitation, child support, juvenile delinquency and child-endangering cases. Mahoning County leads the state in violent juvenile crime per capita, she said.
"I need this money to fund this court," she said.
Noting that the county has 32 employees on layoff, Commissioner David Ludt said he supported providing Judge Maloney with the money he requested but thought the county couldn't afford Judge Dellick's request.
Referring to the Ohio Supreme Court case, however, he added, "We lost, and I took an oath of office to uphold the law."
Ludt said he met with Judge Dellick about her budget, but Commissioners Ed Reese and Vicki Allen Sherlock have refused to do so.
milliken@vindy.com