COLUMBIANA CO. Officials stay within a leaner budget

Department heads are reaching the goal by limiting overtime.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LEETONIA -- Village officials so far have kept spending within the 2004 budget without employee layoffs, Village Clerk Judy Garlough said.
She said the budget for 2004, approved recently by village council, is $1.89 million compared to $2.2 million in 2003. The general fund budget is $473,496 about $100,000 less than last year.
Garlough said department heads have kept within the leaner budget mostly by limiting overtime. She said one part-time street department employee was laid off last year to control the 2003 budget.
To boost the general fund recently, the county common pleas court allowed the village to transfer $32,292 from a capital improvements fund to the general fund. Garlough said real estate tax and income tax revenue should be coming into village coffers soon.
Months of budget work
Garlough said department heads have been keeping a tight rein on spending in general, and they spent several months reducing their proposed budgets before council gave its final approval.
Councilman Dan Valentine has said all department head have planned operations on a limited basis. Loss of income tax revenue and severe reductions in interest earned on bank accounts and investments account for most of the shortfall, he said.
Garlough said the police budget eats up the largest portion of the general fund. Police Chief John Soldano has a budget of $279,721 this year, which is about $27,600 less than he received in 2003.
Soldano said the police budget has been in steady decline for the past several years. The 2001 budget, for example, was $330,503.
So far, Soldano has managed to reduce the budget without layoffs. For this budget he cut overtime, training and clothing allowances and equipment purchases and adjusted some dispatching shifts.