TRUMBULL COUNTY Polivka to unveil his own budget for 2006

The commissioner said he didn't think the county should spend 'to the limit.'
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Saying he hopes to avoid some of the "mistakes of the past," Trumbull County Commissioner Dan Polivka plans to bring his own 2006 budget to the table today containing about $900,000 in cuts.
Polivka said that the Delphi rally in downtown Warren on Saturday reminded him of the need for conservative spending.
"When people are worried about jobs ... we should have a public hearing to show we're being fiscally responsive to the public," he said.
Polivka said more should be set aside for improvements to county-owned buildings.
"I"m worried that, in four years, we're not at the same point we were last year," he said.
"It's important in this budget that there's money earmarked for capital improvements."
Polivka vowed during Tuesday's work session to bring a budget of $40 million to today's regular meeting. He said he has pored over the $40.9 million budget that commissioners had considered approving last week.
"We've had a lot of mistakes in the past, so why would we want to continue to budget like that?" Polivka said.
"If we have this much money coming in, why should we go right to the limit? If we budget a little more conservatively, we'll be a hell of a lot better off in the long run."
Things to consider
Commissioner Paul Heltzel listed the $1.6 million in discretionary money already in the budget, including $655,000 in a capital account, $300,000 in unallocated general fund money, $500,000 in a contingency fund and $200,000 in leftover Veterans Service Commission money.
Heltzel said the budget contains a lot of areas that commissioners don't have any control over, such as budgets for the courts and to a lesser extent the board of elections.
Polivka said he would like to see his $900,000 in cuts made in all departments.
Legal issue
Jason Earnhart, the commissioners' legal adviser, said state law prohibits commissioners from making across-the-board cuts. He cautioned Polivka against cutting budgets for the courts, because of the courts' control over their funding.
Polivka asked if the law doesn't include the terms "reasonable and just" in relation to those budgets.
"You would have to prove in a court of law that it is reasonable and just," Earnhart said.
"When you say we have no control over these other departments, I don't buy that," Polivka said. "We have final control over every part of this budget."
Polivka also said he favors having more public input on the budget, such as from a hearing or the citizens advisory committee that studied last year's budget.
Commissioner James Tsagaris said he didn't think that such a committee is necessary, because he thought the citizens elected the commissioners to perform that function.
Size of increase debated
Commissioners also debated whether the proposed $40.9 million budget represented a large increase over previous budgets.
The budget is nearly $6 million more than the 2005 budget, or 16.4 percent higher. That percentage is skewed, Heltzel pointed out, because of the drastic cuts some departments took in 2005 because of budget problems in the early part of the year.
He said comparing the proposed 2006 budget with the 2002 budget, the growth per year is 4.2 percent, and that is below inflation. Tsagaris said he thinks the proposed budget represents a 7 percent to 8 percent increase.
According to figures provided by the county auditor's office, the proposed $40.9 million budget represents an 8.8 percent increase over the 2004 budget -- the last one before drastic cuts were made.
runyan@vindy.com