Trumbull budget requests

Several departments made budget presentations to Trumbull County commissioners today. Here's what they requested:

• Common pleas court: Judge Andrew Logan said he was bringing his first “substantial” increase to the commissioners in 11 years with his request for $2.3 million, compared to $1.9 million in 2006, an 18.8 percent increase.

Some of the money is for the hiring of two new magistrates, which he said brings the county “up to standard” with most other counties of the same size. He said capital murder cases and mental retardation cases of two capital defendants have also cost the county a great deal of money in providing them with lawyers and expert witnesses.

Judge W. Wyatt McKay said the Ohio Legislature this year mandated that jury pools be rotated every two weeks instead of every three to four weeks, another cost increase.

Prosecutor’s office: Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said regionalization in police work has been a success in the county with the creation of the homicide task force in 1984, but now the same concept is needed to help deal with traffic deaths. Many departments don’t have officers well enough trained in traffic reconstruction to properly investigate such incidents. A regionalized or team approach to training officers and providing assistance in this area is needed, he said.

He recently discussed the idea with Warren Police Chief John Mandopolous, whose department has such expertise, he said.

MetroParks: The MetroParks board asked to double its budget from $104,299 to $208,628 so it could hire a full-time director to oversee the many volunteers that work for the park system and apply for grants.

The system has expanded a great deal in recent years with the acquisition of a number of properties through Clean Ohio grant money.

Parks board member Richard Darkangelo of Hubbard said commissioners should consider the board’s additional request as “seed money” that will assist the board in its desire to pass a levy to pay for park operations. He said $208,628 is a pretty small amount compared to the $11 million that is in the Mill Creek MetroParks budget.

Housing Inspection Department: Chief Building Official David Zofko said statistics he gathered this year indicate that people are not building new homes as much as renovating their present ones: Building additions or alterations were up from 215 in 2005 to 239 in 2006, while housing construction went down from 322 in 2005 to 221 in 2006.

Fair board: Board President Richard Roscoe outlined a number of capital improvements he would like to see done at the fairgrounds, such as increase in seating in the grandstand costing $200,000; electrical upgrades, $120,000; new restrooms, $100,000; parking lot improvements, $50,000; demolition of buildings using grant money.