Prosecutor, sheriff seek more funds

The sheriff's budget doesn't include restoring road patrols.
By DEBORA SHAULIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County Sheriff Randall A. Wellington says he needs $16.3 million next year to maintain his department's status quo -- including limits on jail population -- or $17.6 million to fully operate the jail.
Meanwhile, county Prosecutor Paul J. Gains says the five new assistant prosecutors who were hired in September disposed of 80 cases in 11 weeks, which saved the county money.
The two officeholders made their presentations to county commissioners Thursday as the 2006 budget hearing process wound down.
In his budget request, Wellington said he anticipated a 3 percent wage increase for deputies, who are in contract negotiations. The current agreement expires Dec. 31. Deputies haven't had a wage increase in four years, and their salaries are about 18 percent below peer groups, Wellington said.
The sheriff's department has 201 active employees, a majority of whom work exclusively at the jail. One of two jail towers was closed earlier this year after inmates won a class-action lawsuit and U.S. District Judge David D. Dowd Jr. stepped in to make the overcrowded, understaffed jail constitutionally sound. Inmate population now is limited to 296; capacity is 564.
Includes rehiring
With $17.6 million, the department could "bring back all functions of the jail as it was previously," Wellington said. The dollar amount includes rehiring 36 laid-off deputies who would be needed to meet the federal government's guard-to-inmate ratios, he noted.
If the higher budget request was granted, and Judge Dowd's lifted his consent decree, the county may be able to resume accepting federal prisoners, which would generate revenue for the county, Wellington said.
Wellington's budget request does not include restoring patrols in communities that don't have police departments. Deputies who are assigned to the jail cannot answer service calls, he said.
Wellington had requested $16.9 million for this year. Commissioners allotted $7.5 million, then borrowed an additional $7.3 million against collection of a half-percent sales tax passed in May in order to keep the jail open.
Prosecutor's office
Gains said the additional assistant prosecutors were hired to accelerate the criminal justice process and reduce the average length of stay by offenders in the county jail.
Gains and Linette M. Stratford, chief assistant prosecutor of the civil division, estimated savings to the county of nearly $234,000 in 11 weeks. That figure was based on the additional caseload of the new assistant prosecutors, the average daily cost of a jail bed at $68, and average jail stay of 43 days, as cited by the jail's special master, Toledo attorney Vincent M. Nathan. Projected annual savings are $1.1 million, they added.
As inmates leave the jail once their cases conclude, other inmates take their places, Commissioner John McNally said. Stratford said, however, that it's because of lengthy jail stays that the costs accrue.
Gains also cited savings to the county because his department has absorbed workers' compensation cases rather than hiring outside law firms to represent the county.
With the additional prosecutors on staff, Gains believes his office may be able to represent the county in future labor negotiations. The prosecutor's office already represents the county in contract grievances with workers, Stratford said.
The prosecutor's budget request for 2006 is $3.1 million, compared with $2.3 million in actual costs this year. Grants that paid all or part of the salaries of a juvenile prosecutor, drug task force prosecutor and gun investigator have expired, so those positions will need to be paid out of the general fund, he said.
The budget request also accounts for full-year salaries for the five new prosecutors, which totals $276,250; and 3 percent wage increases for 10 employees who are investigators and clerks, for a total of $11,700.
shaulis@vindy.com