MAHONING BUDGET Options limited in recovering millions

Finding money to keep the county jail operating is the top priority.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County's chief fiscal officer said the key toward the county regaining sound financial footing is carefully managing its debt the remainder of this year and into 2006.
And county commissioners may have to violate statutory laws on spending to do so, said County Auditor George J. Tablack.
The plan, Tablack said, is to spread the deficit over a two-year period. By law, counties cannot be involved in deficit spending, but a federal court order may leave them no choice, the auditor added.
"The commissioners may have to violate statutory laws as a direct result of adhering to federal laws," Tablack said. "The effect of federal law, in the short term, puts us in a deficit situation."
Courtney Whetstone, public relations official for Auditor of State Betty Montgomery, confirmed the auditor's office has been in contact with Tablack regarding the federal court order and the impact that will have on the county's financial condition.
She said Ohio law does not permit the state auditor's office to declare a fiscal emergency for a political subdivision facing a projected deficit, "and that's what auditor Tablack has on his hands."
The state auditor's office does look at an entity's general fund to see whether a deficit has occurred.
"If we see a deficit at the end of the year, the entity will be cited in our report," she said.
The deficit is largely because of a federal court decree involving the jail, which mandates that deputies scheduled for layoff remain on the job, she said.
Sheriff's shortage
Tablack said as of last week, at the current rate of spending for deputies for the remaining pay periods this year, the sheriff's department projected deficit is $3.9 million.
Sheriff Randall Wellington had requested $16.9 million this year; he received $7.5 million. In March, 54 deputies were laid off because of a lack of funds.
In April, Judge David D. Dowd Jr. of U.S. District Court halted the planned layoff of 62 more deputies and set the jail population at 296. It can hold 564.
Tablack said Judge Dowd's decision is "driving Mahoning County's finances."
"Most of the debt we will incur for this year is being made on the decisions concerning the operation of the jail," Tablack said.
Wellington said 11 deputies are being recalled from layoff status and will return to work beginning Monday. He said the deputies are filling positions that opened up by resignations, retirements and extended sick leave.
The sheriff said Judge Dowd wants 166 deputies on the job. He said the number had fallen to 155.
Various issues
Besides the sheriff's department, there are other funding issues, roughly amounting to $2 million, that also must be resolved this year, Tablack said.
The county elections board needs more money for the November general election; common pleas courts will need more money for the indigent defense fund; and the clerk of courts office also needs additional cash.
Despite passage of the five-year, half-percent sales tax earlier this month, the roughly $13 million that tax would generate won't be available to the county until January 2006. There is a state-required lag time between when the tax can start being collected and when the first check comes.
What threw the county into the financial abyss this year was the failure in 2004 to keep revenue from one of the county's two sales taxes going this year. The loss of between $12 million and $14 million in revenue cut the general fund budget by nearly 30 percent.
"We're attempting to manage the [financial] loss," Tablack said. "The smaller the loss this year, the less we have to take off the top of the budget next year."
The auditor added that county officials also must manage the expectations of the public, county employees and the press.
Forecast
"I need to make this clear: We will not be out of the woods until at least Dec. 31, 2006," Tablack said. The budgetary process for next year needs to start now rather than waiting until January, he added.
Tablack and commissioners also are working with the state auditor to update the county's financial forecast this year and through the end of next year, which they hope to have done by the end of the month.
Tablack believes the county's total projected deficit of nearly $6 million is manageable over the two-year period, but commissioners must be diligent in keeping the promises they made to the public to get the sales tax passed.
Commissioner Anthony Traficanti, board chairman, said that's what he intends to do.
"We, as a board, must keep our commitment to the taxpayers to manage our debt, hold down spending and ferret out waste," Traficanti said.
The top priority is funding the jail, he added. The sheriff's department is the general fund budget's largest expense, followed by the courts.
As far as where the county will get the money to fund the jail and make it through this year, he acknowledges the options are limited.
"Can we borrow money or do we get involved with tax anticipation notes? These are questions we still need to get answered from our bond counsel," Traficanti said.