Mahoning County MRDD sets 2008 budget of $27.6 million

Duck reports little progress in talks on employee
contracts that expired last summer.

AUSTINTOWN — Mahoning County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities adopted a 2008 budget totaling $27.6 million, including an operating budget of $23.6 million.

The operating budget is 2.5 percent, or $587,045, higher than the $23,060,390 budgeted for 2007. Actual 2007 general fund expenditures were $22,033,186, said Larry Duck, MRDD superintendent.

Major operating fund expenditures include $10.5 million for employee salaries; $5.1 million, employee benefits; and $7.8 million for other operating expenses.

The calendar year 2008 budget, passed Monday during the board’s regular meeting, also includes one-time capital expenses such as $408,200 for construction of bus unloading canopies at the Bev Road and Meshel MASCO workshops; $341,400 for a bus washing bay; $74,500 for equipment and security improvements to deter the property vandalism the board has experienced the past two years; $273,874 for payments on bus lease/purchase contracts, and $79,500 for the purchase of two light transit vehicles for the board’s Community Employment Program.

The superintendent said no progress was made at a negotiating session Jan. 3 with the Mahoning Education Association for Developmentally Disabled, which represents teachers and classroom aides at Leonard Kirtz School, workshop specialists, caseworkers, secretaries and other professional employees. Another negotiating session with MEADD is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 20.

Duck said some progress was made during contract talks Jan. 10 with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, which represents about 85 employees, including bus drivers and aides, custodians, cooks and mechanics. The next meeting with AFSCME is scheduled for Jan. 30. Work agreements for both groups expired Aug. 31, 2007.

During the board meeting, Dominic Medina and Dawn Burton were reappointed as board members by Mahoning County Probate Judge Mark Belinky. They will serve four-year terms running from January 2008 through the first regular meeting in January 2012.

During its reorganization meeting, the board elected Joseph Ignazio as its president. Other 2008 officers are Burton, vice president, and Frank Santisi, secretary.