Layoffs possible in sheriff’s department

Sales tax revenue has been steady.

WARREN — The question of layoffs in the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Department has arisen again, as the county commissioners and sheriff prepare to discuss the 2007 budget once more.

No meeting date has been set, but Sheriff Thomas Altiere sent a letter to commissioners in June asking for a meeting so that he can secure the additional revenue needed to keep his department running through the rest of the year.

Chief Deputy Ernie Cook said in February, when the commissioners approved a sheriff’s budget of $8.6 million, that the budget would only be enough to run the department until midyear.

Cook now says the department will need about $460,000 more. In the budget for the sheriff’s uniform division — road deputies and the like — there is only about seven weeks’ worth of money left, Cook said.

Commissioner Paul Heltzel said Tuesday there is a “distinct possibility” of layoffs in the sheriff’s department, but he said the amount of money that will be added to the sheriff’s budget will be determined in discussions with the sheriff.

Auditor Adrian Biviano said the county had a carry-over balance of about $5 million heading into 2007, and he hopes there will be a similar carryover heading into 2008.

Any additional money for the sheriff’s department will come from the $2 million difference between the $42.5 million commissioners budgeted and the $44.5 million the budget commission projected would be available, Biviano said.

Biviano said his mantra for the past year has been, “Just because money is there doesn’t mean we have to spend it.” Some of the extra money has gone toward purchases such as cruisers for the sheriff’s department.

Sales tax revenue so far this year has come in at just about the rate expected, he added. It was projected at $19.7 million for the year.

runyan@vindy.com