Mahoning County has healthy general fund

YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County’s general fund revenues were up substantially last year compared with the year before, according to Michael Sciortino, county auditor.

Revenues in that fund were $62,998,864 last year, up $10,232,682 from the previous year. Sales tax revenue grew by $613,501, amounting to a 2.23 percent gain over 2006, he told the county commissioners at their Monday reorganizational meeting.

The general fund is the county’s main operating fund. Most of its revenue is derived from two 0.5-percent sales taxes, each generating about $14 million in annual income. The voters renewed one of those taxes last May.

A significant source of new revenue last year was the $940,949 the county received from the federal government for housing federal prisoners in the county jail at the rate of $68.84 per inmate per day. “I anticipate a much larger number in 2008,” Sciortino said.

For more, read Tuesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com