COLUMBIANA COUNTY Sales tax failure leads to service cuts

The rejection has lead to a $4 million loss in revenues.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County commissioners have begun to cut juvenile-detention programs because of a lack of money.
The commissioners said Wednesday that the news was given to workers at the Louis Tobin Attention Center west of Lisbon. Some of them may be transferred, commissioners said.
The center is part of the Multi-County Juvenile Attention System, which is made up of Carroll, Columbiana, Holmes, Stark, Tuscarawas and Wayne counties.
The system's board ordered the reductions because the county hasn't paid its bill for this year.
The plans calls for the elimination of at least one unit that can hold up to 10 youths at the center. A second unit, that can also hold up to 10 youths, will remain open.
But Sean Logan, chairman of the commissioners, said the county, through Judge Thomas Baronzzi of juvenile court, will keep the number of youths in the center as low as possible. The judge could not be reached to comment.
The center normally holds an average of 14 youths a day from Columbiana County. That number will be dropped to an average of four youths a day, Logan said.
Ballot fallout
The commissioners lost $4 million in revenue this year because voters have twice rejected a 0.5-percent sales tax.
The tax will be on the November ballot. The commissioners' reduction plan assumes the tax won't pass.
As a result of the previous tax defeats, the commissioners didn't fund most of its estimated $1 million share to the juvenile system for 2006. The cost depends on the number of youths that are in the system.
The commissioners expect the one unit will be closed by the end of November. They estimate that will save the county about $53,000 this year and $170,000 in 2007.
The commissioners have two other options. One would be to close the Tobin center completely in early 2007, which would save about $770,000. The second would be to close the center in early 2007 while reopening a unit in Stark County's attention system. That would save about $555,000 a year.
The commissioners' plan calls for them to pay $800,000 for services this year and incur a debt of $172,000.
That debt, and additional $500,000, would be paid to the attention system in 2007.
The cutbacks at the center this year would result in the reduction of five workers. They may be temporarily reassigned to fill current vacancies in positions at facilities in other counties in the system, commissioners said.
wilkinson@vindy.com