Trumbull trying to repeat 2009 in budget

By Ed Runyan

Trumbull County plans no layoffs in 2010, a commissioner said.

WARREN — On the expense side, Trumbull County commissioners are hoping that 2010 will be an exact repeat of 2009, but they’ve already been told not to expect a repeat of one of their costs: health care.

Commissioners had budget hearings Monday and Tuesday, getting requests of about $49 million from the various county departments they oversee but expecting to approve around $46 million — the same budget as last year.

Adrian Biviano, county auditor, says the county’s health-insurance companies have warned that some large insurance claims are likely to cost the county $1 million to $2 million more in 2010 than in 2009.

The county, which is self-insured, has paid health-insurance bills of around $8.8 million so far in 2009, which is $1.7 million more than the $7.1 million it paid in 2008 and 2007, Biviano said.

Meanwhile, the county will receive about $2 million less in sales-tax revenue by the end of this year than in 2008, Biviano said — around $19 million in 2009 compared with $21 million in 2008.

He attributed the drop to the poor economy.

It’s possible for departments to make do with the same amount of money as they received in 2009 because all county employees have either previously agreed to a wage freeze for 2010 or are likely to agree to such a wage freeze in the coming months, said Frank Fuda, county commissioner.

He added that he expects the county to make no layoffs in 2009.

Biviano said Trumbull County elected officials are “being very realistic” in their budget requests “given the economic times.”

The 2009 budget of $46.1 million was $2.2 million more than the 2008 budget. The county’s largest department, the sheriff’s office, requested a $664,570 increase over the $9.6 million it spent in 2008.

This year’s sheriff budget request, by contrast, is nearly identical to that of the previous year, said Leslie Stredney, sheriff’s office personnel director.

In addition to pay freezes, two other measures will make that possible, she said:

UCommissioners required sheriff’s employees to pay less than 10 percent of their health-care bill in 2009. This year, workers will pay the full 10 percent, amounting to an additional $12 per month for an employee on a family plan.

UAdditional fees being collected as part of sheriff’s sales are helping offset step-pay increases in the department.

“It’s a tight budget, but we expect to have a rainy-day fund to bring forward,” Biviano said. The county will have a carry-over of about $10 million this year, and expects to have a carry-over of $8 million to $10 million at the end of the year, he said.

Trumbull County government, which receives 1 percent of the county’s 6.5 percent county sales-tax revenue, has some of the lowest sales taxes in the state, being one of 24 with a 6.5 percent rate. There are four counties that are lower, 6.25 percent; 17 at 6.75 percent; 42 at 7 percent; and one (Cuyahoga) at 7.75 percent; according to the Ohio Department of Taxation.

runyan@vindy.com