MAHONING COMMISSIONERS No agreement on juvenile court funding

Three motions at the meeting failed.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A majority of the Mahoning County commissioners agree that the county should increase funding for the juvenile court system, but they couldn't agree on the amount today.
Commissioner David Ludt said he and county Auditor George Tablack have been negotiating privately with Judge Theresa Dellick of the juvenile court on a settlement figure. The Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of the judge that the county should increase juvenile court funding for this year by $2.3 million.
But Ludt said today that the judge would settle for $925,000.
Commissioner Ed Reese proposed the county provide $600,000 in increased funding for the juvenile court. He was the only one of the three commissioners to vote in favor of the motion.
Another proposal
Ludt then offered a motion to increase the court funding by $925,000. The problem though was the county only has a fund balance of $774,981. Commissioners are not legally permitted to approve expenditures that exceed the amount of money in the county's fund balance.
Ludt withdrew his motion, and offered another motion saying the other $150,019 could come from the county's unclaimed funds, money that is owed to people by the county that has not been claimed in at least the past five years.
Also, Ludt said the county's three-member budget commission will certify at a meeting to be held later today that the county's fund balance has increased by $375,000 caused by increased receipts. That money would help replenish some of the money that would go to the juvenile court, Ludt said.
But Reese said until the budget commission -- consisting of Tablack, county Treasurer John Reardon and Prosecutor Paul J. Gains -- met and certified the increase, it would not be appropriate to consider the $925,000 request. Ludt's motion to give $925,000 to juvenile court was rejected by a 2-1 vote.
Reese then proposed the $600,000 figure again, and said commissioners could consider increasing that amount at next Thursday's meeting if the budget commission took action today. Again, he was the only commissioner to vote in favor of the proposal.
After that, Reese asked if any of the commissioners wanted to offer a motion to fund Judge Dellick's court for any amount below $600,000; none were offered.
Lawyers for Judge Dellick last week filed a motion asking the Ohio Supreme Court to find the county commissioners in contempt of court for not obeying the high court's order.
Sherlock
Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock said she will discuss the funding issue with the judge but only at a public meeting. The judge's attorney had sent a letter to county officials asking that such a meeting be held in private.
Sherlock continues to be a strong opponent to give the judge any money, saying to do so would not be in the best interest of the county or its taxpayers. During a long speech at today's meeting, Sherlock criticized Ludt, Tablack, Judge Dellick and members of the Democrats of the 17th and 6th Districts, a local political organization that has called for her resignation over the juvenile funding issue.
Sherlock blasted the organization's message board -- www.dems17.org/board -- for posts on it that are critical of her and other county officials. At the meeting, Sherlock read posts from the board that made personal attacks on her. Sherlock said the group's site is equivalent to a hate organization such as the Ku Klux Klan. She said she is making it her mission to contact organizations for women and minorities and church groups to pressure the group to shut down the message board.
Regarding Sherlock's statements, Mark Belinky, the group's president, said, "This is just a distraction from her disreputable behavior. To distract attention from her, she attacks our simple political message board. We monitor it, and we delete posts right away that have slanderous stuff. People say harsh things, and I wish they wouldn't. But we do the best we can."
skolnick@vindy.com