Meeting with state legislators targets county funding issues

Commissioner Dan Polivka talked about the high cost of operating the courts.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
MIDDLEFIELD -- The goal of a meeting held at Mary Yoder's Restaurant in Middlefield on Friday was to bring together commissioners from Trumbull, Geauga, Ashtabula and Lake counties and some of their state legislators to help them work together.
But the most influential legislator who attended, State Rep. Matt Dolan, a Republican from Geauga County who was recently named chairman of the Finance and Appropriations Committee, seemed to have a different slant on the state's priorities than the county officials.
Dolan said he believes the top priority in state government spending will be efficiency and competitiveness.
For instance, the state will be open to funding any services that can be provided efficiently or any programs that will make Ohio more competitive with other areas in terms of job creation.
"As long as they fit into those goals, we will work hard to fund them," Dolan said of funding requests that will come to the committee from Gov. Ted Strickland when he presents his first two-year budget in the coming weeks.
Requests for funding
Throughout the meeting, county commissioners and members of the County Commissioners' Association of Ohio, which sponsored such meetings around the state, addressed the legislators with their request for more funding so that counties can effectively run their criminal justice and court systems, elections boards, and assorted other agencies.
Lake County Commissioner Dan Troy, for instance, who also served as state legislator 14 years before getting elected three times as commissioner, noted that his county had to spend lavishly in recent years to replace its electronic voting system purchased in 1999 because the state mandated that their system have a paper backup system.
"We've had our new system for two or three elections, and I don't think anyone even looks at it," Troy said of the paper printout the new equipment produces.
Troy said state legislators need to remember that such requirements as this have a high cost, so legislators should be reasonable. Another unnecessary cost, he said, is the special elections held twice a year.
Local officials
Trumbull County Commissioner Dan Polivka and State Sen. Capri Cafaro of Liberty, D-32nd, attended the meeting. Polivka is vice chairman of the County Commissioners' Association's courts and corrections committee. Polivka noted that in Trumbull County, courts and criminal justice use up about 60 percent of the annual budget.
The courts have the power to order commissioners to fund them, so in 2005, when money was tight, some county departments experienced 50 percent cuts while the courts kept most of their budget.
Cafaro said she considers it a high priority to increase the amount the state gives to counties in what is called the Local Government Fund, which Polivka said makes up around 35 percent of a county's budget.
Cafaro said the state used to provide a 100 percent match of county-generated funds for county soil and water conservation districts, but that percentage is now down to about 84.
As a member of the Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs Committee, Cafaro said she will participate in debates on that issue, though she acknowledges the committee won't have much say in funding matters.
runyan@vindy.com