County plans less spending

By D.A. Wilkinson

A commissioner said there will be adjustments to funding requests that top the county’s revenue.

LISBON — Columbiana County’s budget for 2009 will be almost a half-million dollars less than this year’s budget.

The commissioners have completed meetings with other officeholders to discuss their budgets for next year.

The county expects to have $18.4 million to run operations for next year. That’s a loss of $484,869 over this year’s spending.

Most of the county’s budget is funded by a 1 percent sales tax that brings in about $8 million a year, and a 0.5 percent sales tax that brings in $4 million a year.

Officeholders, however, have asked for a total of $22.5 million, or some $4.1 million more than the county is going to have to spend.

It wasn’t clear why county revenue projections apparently will be lower next year. County Auditor Nancy Milliken could not be reached.

Commissioner Jim Hoppel said that because of the high requests “we’re going to have to make some adjustments.”

That means that county offices will likely see their funding set at something close to 2008 spending.

Hoppel said there have not been large funding mandates that would take up portions of the county’s revenue.

Commissioner Penny Traina said, “We will not spend more than we have.”

By comparison, the commissioners in 2007 enacted the 1 percent sales tax. The budget that year was $17 million.

Traina said the revenue drop from this year to 2009 may not stem from lower sales taxes due to the sour national economy. The drop may be due to an overall law of revenue in the county.

The good news is that the commissioners last year began starting a repair and maintenance program to county buildings, especially the county jail.

Traina said the jail is 12 years old and is starting to need repair work. Replacing part of the water system at the jail last year cost $25,000. The commissioners are entering into maintenance agreements with some county purchases to save money, which she said “will help us down the road.”

wilkinson@vindy.com