YOUNGSTOWN Deal got CSB, BWC project launched

The county's having title to the building was the central issue, the auditor said.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Councilman James E. Fortune Sr. doesn't at all mind that Mahoning County dropped the city at the last minute from the financing deal to build new office space downtown.
He and the others involved are just glad the project is happening.
But Fortune, D-6th, council's finance committee chairman and a member of downtown's redevelopment agency, finds it curious how the deal came about.
For months, the downtown agency -- Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp. -- sought a deal that involved the county and the Children Services Board. The two would combine to put up the $7.5 million needed to erect a four-story building next to the George V. Voinovich Government Center.
The building was to house CSB and the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, whose rent would repay the county for the state's portion of the project.
CSB, however, was reluctant to part with more than $5 million. County Auditor George Tablack said he didn't think it was appropriate to put CSB tax money toward a real estate project.
The downtown agency, CIC, declared the CSB project dead in early August.
Deal with treasurer
But last week the city struck a deal with county Treasurer John Reardon to resurrect the project. The county treasurer's office would lend the city the $2.75 million from its investment funds and charge interest. The city would turn that money over to CIC. CSB would turn over its $4.75 million, and the CIC would build the new space. The city would repay the loan with rent paid by the state.
Fortune expected county commissioners and the CSB board to embrace the deal Tuesday, then for council to approve the city borrowing Wednesday.
Instead, the county decided Tuesday to borrow the $2.75 million itself and combine that with CSB's funds to make the project happen. The county will contract with CIC to build the new space.
Fortune said Wednesday that it's curious Tablack agreed to have the county borrow the money only after the city's deal with the treasurer's office.
"When that got back to the auditor, he changed his mind," Fortune said.
Auditor's explanation
Tablack acknowledges there is a political angle, but not the one Fortune seems to suggest.
Instead, Tablack said the county wouldn't have had title to the new building through the city-borrowing plan. The county will have title to the building under the county borrowing plan adopted Tuesday.
Tablack said he backed the borrowing because he couldn't justify a deal to the public if the county didn't own the building.
He declined to discuss other aspects of the financing deal. "All's well that ends well," he said.
rgsmith@vindy.com