Thursday, February 26, 2009
The county auditor says he merely provided deputies with public documents.
YOUNGSTOWN — Two top Mahoning County officials squabbled on talk radio about negotiations with the sheriff’s department, but both agreed significant concessions are necessary to maintain jail operations.
George J. Tablack, county administrator, accused Michael V. Sciortino, county auditor, of trying to undermine the county’s efforts to negotiate with the Fraternal Order of Police by offering opinions to sheriff’s deputies about the county’s finances.
Sciortino damaged the county’s negotiating efforts by telling deputies Tablack wasn’t including carryover in budget figures Tablack presented to the deputies, Tablack said Wednesday on WKBN radio’s Ron Verb show.
“When I think there are these types of machinations going on politically, I’m not afraid to bring it to talk radio, and talk about it openly to the general public and let them decide who’s telling the truth,” Tablack said.
Tablack said Sciortino was trying to “undermine management’s efforts to try to keep a balanced budget and keep the jail open.”
Sciortino said of Tablack’s accusation: “That is absolutely ridiculous.”
Tablack could not be reached to comment further after the radio program.
Sciortino said he merely gave deputies who came to his office county financial information, including the budget carry-over. “We’re talking about public documents,” Sciortino said on the air.
Sciortino continued that he provided information to the deputies showing that the county carried over $3.6 million into this year and expects to receive $59.2 million in general fund revenues this year.
Sciortino said of the sheriff’s department: “Of course, there need to be concessions.” Such concessions from the deputies are needed to keep the jail fully open and the criminal justice system functioning, Sciortino said.
Tablack said the county is trying to achieve as many cost savings as possible in the general fund’s two largest departments, the sheriff’s department and the juvenile justice center, “to keep the government still functioning.”
Fifty percent of the employees paid from the general fund work in the sheriff’s department, he said. The general fund is the county’s main operating fund. The sheriff’s first quarter budget for this year is $4,842,576. Last year, it was $18 million for the whole year.
Tablack said general fund spending last year was $67.5 million, and he expects that fund will have $62 million to $63 million to spend this year.
“Arithmetic is not an opinion,” Tablack said. “I would suggest that those that are not at the [bargaining] table and not negotiating with the union refrain from offering any opinions as to what those numbers say,” he added.
Tablack said the concessions package the county seeks will cover a three-year period. Sheriffs deputies will vote on the package Friday.
If the county jail suffers major losses of revenue-generating federal inmates, the general fund budget will have to be adjusted accordingly, Tablack said.
County officials expressed fears that the federal inmate population in the county jail would decline significantly if the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee enters into a direct inmate-housing contract with Corrections Corp. of America’s private prison on Hubbard Road, as CCA said the government intended to do early this year. The county jail has recently been averaging 122 federal inmates.
If the county loses $4 million to $6 million in annual revenue from federal prisoners, “We can all give 20-percent concessions, but we’re not going to keep that jail open,” Sciortino said.
Tablack said the sheriff’s department is negotiating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to try to offset any losses of federal inmates to CCA.
“We have to do some major belt-tightening,” Sciortino said. All four major general fund revenue streams — the sales tax, real estate tax, state funding and interest income — are in decline, he added.