Boardman trustees hurt chances of levy's passage

At the very meeting that Boardman Township's fiscal officer, William Leicht, broached the idea of trustees placing an operating levy on the November ballot, three department heads were granted pay raises, while three other nonunion employees received 1,000 bonuses.
Unbelievably, trustees Elaine Mancini, Kathy Miller and Robyn Gallitto voted to dole out this largess -- while acknowledging that township government's budget for this year contains a projected deficit of 4.6 million. Indeed, in adopting the budget, Mancini and Gallitto indicated that the township would dip into the reserve fund to make ends meet. Miller voted against the spending blueprint.
"I promised to warn the trustees when it was time for a levy, and it would be my recommendation that we explore placing a levy on the ballot in the fall," Leicht said during last Tuesday's meeting of the board of trustees.
His recommendation reflects an urgency that should have raised red flags. All last year, Leicht had said he expected a levy to be needed in 2008.
But neither the warning from the fiscal officer, nor his sense of urgency seemed to matter to the trustees. All three voted to grant Darren Crivelli, zoning inspector, and Larry Wilson, road superintendent, 4 percent raises for 2007, and a 3 percent raise for Fire Chief James Dorman. Crivelli's salary goes to 55,615.88; Wilson's to 70,736.64; and, Dorman's salary will hit 73,270.08.
The assistant zoning inspector and administrative assistants to the police and fire chief each received 1,000 bonuses.
Employee costs
Do any of the trustees know how to spell concessions? Incidentally, that was the word used by Miller just before she voted against the 2007 budget that contained the anticipated shortfall. She said that 13 million of the 13.9 million general fund goes for salaries and benefits, adding, "It's like we have employees and nothing else."
Miller contended that the township should ask employee unions to make concessions, seek separate police, fire and road levies in May, or make adjustments in staffing levels.
But when she and her two colleagues voted to grant the above-average (compared with the private sector) pay raises to the three upper management types and bonuses to the others, they made it difficult to argue that the rank-and-file should walk the plank.
With major employers in the Mahoning Valley bracing for upheavals in their operations, and with the ranks of the unemployed expected to balloon with buyouts and layoffs, the public sector needs to face economic reality.
If there isn't enough money to operate government, spending cuts must be made. The granting of raises, while discussing a tax increase, isn't reality.
What trustees Mancini, Miller and Gallitto have done by granting the raises and bonuses is hurt the chances of the levy being approved by the voters. It also guarantees that the labor unions will have their hands out -- expecting to receive, not give.