Despite Geauga’s leaving task force, funding outlook is good, chief says

Only 20 percent of TAG’s cases in 2007 were from Geauga County.

WARREN — Geauga County has dropped out of the former Trumbull Ashtabula and Geauga Law Enforcement Task Force effective Jan. 1, but the task force’s funding for 2008 and beyond is looking better than in previous years, its commander said.

Sgt. Jeff Orr, TAG commander (TAG now stands for Trumbull Ashtabula Group), doesn’t plan to ask Trumbull County commissioners for any part of its $200,000 budget this year. Last year, commissioners contributed $16,666, the same amount provided by Ashtabula and Geauga counties.

Orr said TAG will use its $150,000 federal/state grant and $50,000 from fines and forfeitures to fund its work in 2008. TAG’s federal/state grant amount was $81,000 in 2007.

The 4 1/2-year-old task force investigates drug crimes and other types of offenses.

The sheriff’s departments in Trumbull and Ashtabula counties will again provide four TAG deputies, but TAG will pay back the departments about $37,500 per deputy, Orr said.

Money to pay for the office administrator and other expenses will come from fines and forfeitures, Orr said.

When Geauga County dropped out of the task force, it moved its offices from a secret location in Geauga County to one in Trumbull County, Orr said. The new location is much larger than the former one, he noted.

Geauga County Sheriff Dan McClelland said the two primary reasons for getting out of TAG were that Geauga County drug cases made up only about 20 percent of the total in 2007 and because the task force decided to move its office from Middlefield to Trumbull County.

McClelland said his department will continue to cooperate with the TAG deputies wherever possible, but his deputies will focus their work on Geauga County drug investigations now.

Orr said possible funding assistance for TAG is on the horizon. The Ohio Senate approved legislation that would provide permanent state funding for task forces such as TAG, but the Ohio House has not acted on the measure yet. Orr said the measure would provide a predictable funding source for the task force.

In recent years, the task force has had to adjust its budget annually based on the amount of federal/state grant money it has received.