Recorder offers funds to sheriff

The recorder's office is a revenue producer for the county.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Saying his office is frugal, Mahoning County Recorder Ronald Gerberry is asking the county commissioners for no increase in his general fund appropriation for next year and offering to turn over 186,000 in accumulated filing fees to help the commissioners fund the sheriff's department.
Gerberry is asking for 617,653 from the county's general fund for 2007, the same amount the commissioners granted him for this year. Gerberry said he isn't seeking an increase in general fund monies because he plans to supplement them as needed with money accumulated in the separate filing fee account, which will pay for shelving and computer technology.
"If they would give me the same budget, I will make it work," he said in an interview.
The general fund is the county's main operating fund.
"I'm going to continue to supplement the commissioners' general fund budget with at least 100,000 out of my user fee account," because of the county's financial crunch, he said, adding that he has supplemented his general fund appropriation with user fee money for the past several years. "We're trying to get this county back on its feet," financially, he said.
There is a concern
However, he said he fears that, if he continues to spend user fee money, he'll deplete that fund and be unable to make improvements to his office.
The user fee account, which now totals 686,000, consists of 4 from each document filing fee allocated by the commissioners to the recorder's office. When he came before the commissioners Monday for his department's budget hearing, Gerberry offered to turn over 186,000 from that fund to the county commissioners to help them with sheriff's department operations.
Gerberry's offer came after a jail expert appointed by a panel of three federal judges recently concluded that overcrowding makes the partially open jail a security disaster waiting to happen and Sheriff Randall Wellington requested an additional 3.8 million to allow reopening of the entire jail.
This year, the recorder's office expects to spend only about 547,000 out of the 617,653 appropriated for it, returning about 70,000 to the county's general fund, partly because it spent less than the commissioners' office projected for health care, retirement and Workers' Compensation, Gerberry said. This year, the office will spend about 144,454 from the user fee fund, he added.
Moneymaker
The recorder's office is a revenue generating department for the county, Gerberry said. In 2005, the office collected 2.67 million in filing fees, of which 1.32 million went to the state, 1.16 million went to the county's general fund, and 186,224 went to the recorder's user fee fund.
When Gerberry took office in 2001, the recorder's office had a staff of 13, including himself; but resignations and layoffs have reduced it to nine today, including himself, Gerberry said, adding that increased computer technology allows the office to function with fewer staff. "This is an extremely lean operation. This is a very efficient operation," he said.
Commissioner David Ludt suggested the commissioners should approve Gerberry's proposed 2007 budget, but the commissioners took no formal action on it Monday.
The recorder's office is responsible for filing all documents related to land transactions, including deeds and mortgages. In 2005, it processed some 48,741 documents. As of Dec. 15, the office had recorded 47,349 documents this year.