Voters OK 3 Trumbull levies but turn down library issue

Lordstown voters approved a casino agreement with the Eastern Shawnee Tribe.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Concerns about finances apparently didn't bother Trumbull County voters as much as some feared. The countywide issues for Fairhaven, children's services and senior citizens were approved Tuesday.
In complete but unofficial results, voters did reject by a narrow margin a new levy for the county library system.
Residents of Trumbull County have been rocked by scary economic news in recent weeks, as the Delphi Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection and announced likely job losses and wage and benefit cutbacks for many of the Valley's 3,800 hourly workers. GM and Delphi retirees in the Valley are also concerned about loss of benefits.
Voters approved an 0.8-mill, 10-year replacement levy for the support of children's services and the care and placement of children by a 55 percent margin, or 6,423 votes. The levy will raise $2,768,733 annually.
Robert Kubiak, executive director of the Trumbull County Children Services Agency, said levy approval will help maintain the quality of the services and programs that are offered, provide mental health treatment that some of the children require and maintain consistency of staffing, which allows for a "permanency plan" for the children.
After the election, he said the approval comes at an important time because job issues in the community could make behavioral health services even more important to the area.
Explanation
Replacement levies are ones in which the millage remains the same but the levies collect more money -- because property values have risen since the levies were originally approved.
Renewal levies, by contrast, keep the revenue the same, and millage would be less if property values went up. Replacement levies do not increase the mills but increase the money generated.
The Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Board, which runs the Fairhaven school and workshops, won approval of a 2.25-mill, 10-year replacement levy by 65 percent, or 19,580 votes.
It will provide funding for maintenance and operation of facilities and replaces levies of 1.9 mills and 0.35 mills to raise $7,787,175 annually.
Superintendent Douglas A. Burkhardt said the approval will allow students in the program to continue to receive services and for 113 of his employees to keep their jobs. If the levy had failed, they would have been laid off, he said.
"I'm humbled. The vote was a lot higher than we expected given the tough economic times," Burkhardt said after the vote.
About the library levy
The Warren-Trumbull County Public Library sought a 1-mill additional, continuing levy for current expenses to raise $2,582,181 annually. It gathered 48 percent of the vote and lost by 1,775 votes.
The money would have let the library restore its materials budget, pay off debts, acquire a new bookmobile, upgrade computers and resume Sunday hours, said Robert Briel, the library's director.
After the defeat, Briell said the library board will have to make some "tough decisions" and that the library "cannot continue to operate as we have in the past."
The library's board said approval of the levy would have allowed it to "seriously consider" plans for a bigger branch in Cortland. The library owns land on Wakefield Drive near the high school and middle school it could use to more than double the size of the Cortland branch.
The levy was only for voters in areas served by the county library system. People in Niles, Girard, Kinsman, Newton Falls, Hubbard and Bristolville did not vote on the levy because they have their own libraries.
The 0.75-mill, 5-year additional levy for senior citizens approved Tuesday will raise $2,595,725 annually. It was approved by 57 percent, or 8,480 votes. The levy will provide funding to deliver services to people age 60 and over in the county.
Don Medd, director of the Area Agency on Aging, said he was "very pleased that the voters want to do something for the senior citizens." Medd's agency works alongside the Office of Elderly Affairs in providing services to senior citizens.
"What we want to do is do what we can to provide the meals and transportation and all of the services we can," Medd said. Trumbull County voters defeated a similar measure last year.
Agreement OK'd
The referendum that asked Lordstown voters to approve a council ordinance authorizing the village to enter into an agreement with the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma passed Tuesday.
The agreement would give the village part of the proceeds from a $125 million to $250 million gambling resort the tribe would like to build on 137 acres in Lordstown and North Jackson.
The referendum was approved by 69 percent of voters, 996 to 452, meaning that voters agreed with the ordinance passed by the village.
Terry Casey, who represents the tribe, said the deal he made with Lordstown Village Council will benefit the village.
The Oklahoma-based tribe says it would create jobs and share a percentage of revenue from the casino. Village council approved an emergency ordinance April 4 authorizing an intergovernmental agreement with the tribe. Tuesday's vote was on whether to accept or reject those terms.
The agreement provides 2 percent of the casino's revenues to go to the village and county after seven years; it would be 1 percent for the first seven years as the operation gets financed and established.
Eventually, that 2 percent could mean up to about $4 million a year from the casino operation, officials have said. Village officials have said the public should understand that the referendum was not a vote "for" or "against" the casino.
The agreement would go into effect only if the state approves Class 3 (table games) gambling, which is currently illegal in Ohio. Governor Bob Taft has repeatedly said he opposes casino-type gambling.
State Attorney General Jim Petro, a Republican who's seeking the GOP nomination for governor next year, has said he is against the expansion of legalized gambling in Ohio and thinks it won't happen.
In one other county issue, 56 percent of Girard voters said no to a 0.25 percent additional income tax to staff and operate the police department. The levy failed 1,388 to 1,763.