MRDD levy renewal to be on May ballot

Sales tax renewal hearings will be Sunday and Wednesday.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County commissioners passed a resolution to place a 2-mill mental retardation board real estate tax renewal levy on the May 8 primary ballot, and are preparing for placement of a sales tax renewal on the ballot that day.
The five-year levy for the county board of mental retardation and developmental disabilities, which commissioners acted on Thursday, generates about 5.5 million a year and costs the owner of a 100,000 home 70 a year. The levy, which will sustain current operations, has been in place since 1992, said Larry Duck, MRDD superintendent.
Commissioners will hold public hearings at 1 p.m. Sunday and Wednesday in the county courthouse basement concerning renewal of the county's half-percent sales tax and are expected to decide on placement of its renewal before the voters when they meet at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the same location. Thursday is the deadline to put issues on the May 8 ballot.
Walter Duzzny, the county's emergency management director, announced that supporters of the sales tax renewal will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Structural Iron Workers Local 207 hall at 694 Bev Road, if commissioners place the sales tax renewal on the ballot.
Repairs to Oakhill
Commissioners entered into a 1,800 agreement with Roth Bros. Inc. of Austintown for repair of multiple roof leaks at Oakhill Renaissance Place, 345 Oak Hill Ave. The commissioners bought Oakhill last summer in U.S. Bankruptcy Court and intend to move the county's Department of Job and Family Services from rented quarters at 709 N. Garland Ave. to Oakhill by June 1. Oakhill is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.
Commissioners rejected a tentative labor agreement that had been ratified by 35 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees who work in the county auditor's office. County Administrator George Tablack said "some technical language" still needs to be "ironed out."
County Auditor Michael Sciortino said issues still to be worked out concerning health care and the issue of contracting out of services. The AFSCME contract in his office expired in 2005, he added. "We just have to try and get it resolved," he concluded.
Commissioners also renewed the lease for the county court in Canfield for two years. The lease with Westgate Properties of Austintown calls for no rent increase in the first year and a 2 percent rent increase in the second year. The monthly rent for the first year will be 4,032. In the second year, it will rise to 4,113.