TRUMBULL COUNTY REVENUE Taking over department will mean rise in '05 shortfall, figures show

Commissioner Tsagaris disputes the auditor's office's figures.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners' decision to take over an obscure, four-person department will increase the county's projected revenue shortfall by $100,000 next year, figures from the county auditor's office say.
The county already faces a $6 million to $8 million shortfall in 2005 based on current revenue and spending. When commissioners unanimously voted to take control of the county tax map department last week, they added $100,000 in expenses to the county's bottom line, said Adrian Biviano, chief deputy auditor.
"It doesn't make sense," Biviano said. "We are out of money. Why do you spend money on something that is unnecessary?"
Commissioner James Tsagaris disputed the auditor's office's figures and disagreed with the auditor's explanation of how the department had been funded. He said he thought the commissioners have been paying the salaries of the tax map clerks all along, so taking control of the office was a natural move.
"If we are going to pay them with county funds, we should be over them," he said.
The office, which is responsible for providing property information to the auditor for tax purposes, has been under the auditor's control since 2000.
Funds budgeted
This year, county commissioners budgeted $221,000 to operate the tax map department. The auditor's office says, however, that amount only covers salaries and benefits for two of the four tax map workers.
The county auditor has been using special funds from property taxes to pay salaries and benefits for the other two workers in the office, Biviano said.
The money, amounting to $100,000 a year, could be spent on these employees because they are training to work on a new, computerized mapping system that is expected to replace the map office in a few years, Biviano said.
State law requires the geographic information system, as it is called, to be managed through the auditor's office.
The one county employee who works full time to develop the computer system will remain in the auditor's office after Sept. 15, when the move to the commissioners' office is expected to take place.
The move can be made without any adjustments to the department's budget for this year, said county administrator Tony Carson, who will be in charge of the office. He said he has not yet considered what will happen in 2005.
"We will have a budget to work with and we will live within it," he said.
Commissioner Dan Polivka declined to comment on the office move, which he favored, until getting more information. Commissioner Joseph J. Angelo Jr. could not be reached.
A driving force behind moving the department was complaints by the female clerks, who felt wronged in part because they did not earn as generous raises working for the auditor as they had when the tax map office was under the county engineer.
"They weren't very happy at all," Tsagaris said. "They say they did all the work and they couldn't get anybody to cooperate with them."