Trumbull officials OK budget for 2009

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners have approved a 2009 budget of $46.1 million, which is about $1 million more than the 2008 budget.

The county isn’t predicting the need to lay off any county employees in 2009 despite a slowdown in sales tax receipts in recent months, said county Auditor Adrian Biviano.

This time last year, county commissioners approved a 2008 budget of $43.9 million, which is $2.2 million less than the newest spending plan, but $1.2 million of the increase is because of the extra pay period this year, which will cost the county an extra $1.2 million in salary, Biviano said.

The county had a carry-over balance of $3.35 million at the end of 2008, but is projecting a carry-over balance of about $1 million in 2009.

At Thursday’s meeting of the Trumbull County Budget Commission, officials certified that the county is likely to have about $47.2 million available in 2009, with about $19.3 million of that coming from sales tax receipts.

The county received about $21.5 million from sales taxes in 2008.

Meanwhile, the most recent sales tax collections received by the county auditor’s office were down 7 percent from the previous year, after an October when they were down 12 percent.

The November sales tax receipts, received this month, were $1,665,266, which is $126,879 less than the November 2007 collections of $1,792,145, the auditor’s office said.

Among the largest increases in the 2009 budget was the sheriff’s department, which will receive $10.3 million this year. That amount is $664,570 more than it spent ($9.6 million) in 2008, when the sheriff’s department budget was $9.2 million.