Mahoning has busiest county court system

YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County has the busiest county court system in Ohio and among the most productive systems in the state, Judge Joseph Houser, administrative and presiding judge, told county commissioners Wednesday.

Together, the county courts in Boardman, Canfield, Austintown and Sebring handled 31,000 new cases in 2005, which amounted to an average of about 7,500 cases a year for each of the four part-time judges. That puts the local judges’ productivity 70 percent higher per judge than the state average, he said.

In presenting budget requests for 2007, Judge Houser said that the courts need a county jail that takes and keeps prisoners.

“We need to have as much access to the jail as possible,” for the courts to function in the best possible manner, Judge Houser said, noting that crowded county jail conditions have been forcing the sheriff to furlough prisoners.

Austintown remained the state’s busiest county court with about 12,000 new cases, with Boardman in fourth place with 9,100 cases, he said. The statewide average is 4,500 per court location.