Watch spending, auditor advises

By Peter H. Milliken

County real estate transfers and fees plummeted in 2008.

YOUNGSTOWN — Faced with uncertain revenues in a troubled economy, county officials should consider hiring freezes and spending caps this year, the county auditor said.

“I would say: Be very cautious in terms of spending,” urged Auditor Michael V. Sciortino, citing uncertain sales tax receipts, real estate transfer fees, real estate tax collections and interest income.

The county needs to determine soon approximately how many revenue-generating federal prisoners it can expect to house in the county jail this year, Sciortino said.

Although it said it intends to continue housing federal prisoners in Mahoning County Jail, the U.S. Marshals Service recently announced its plans to enter into a contract with Corrections Corp. of America to house federal prisoners at CCA’s Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road.

Following this announcement, a panel of three federal judges ordered the county to produce an audit of its jail operations by Thursday. The judges, who are overseeing county jail operations in the wake of a lawsuit by jail inmates, will then decide what, if any, action to take.

If the county will lose a significant number of federal prisoners, the county commissioners will have to decide whether to close part of the jail or make cuts in other departments to compensate for the loss, or take both actions, Sciortino said.

Federal prisoners have recently generated $4 million to $5 million a year in revenue for the jail.

Because of the uncertainty concerning the jail, the commissioners have adopted a temporary first-quarter general fund budget of $16,117,448 for 2009, instead of a permanent full-year budget.

Negative signals concerning the county’s revenue potential are already coming from slumping real estate transfers and a drop in real estate tax collections, Sciortino noted.

Real estate transfers and the fees the county collects from them have fallen steadily since 2005, when 6,475 transfers generated $2,643,351 in revenue, Sciortino reported.

A precipitous drop occurred from 2007, when 5,579 transfers generated $2,455,755, to 2008, when a mere 4,542 transfers yielded just $1,640,100, auditor’s office figures show.

Unpaid current real estate taxes rose steadily from $325,832 in 2005 to $509,950 last year, and they are projected to grow to $558,000 this year, he noted.

At the county commissioners’ Monday reorganizational meeting. Sciortino announced that the carryover balance in the county’s general fund from 2008 to 2009 is $3,618,580. The general fund is the county’s main operating fund.

“The carryover balances have been shrinking” in recent years, Sciortino said, noting that they were $6 million to $8 million when he became county auditor in 2005.

The county’s general fund for 2009, including the carryover, is $62,841,163, compared with $60,202,184 for 2008.

To achieve cost savings, the county has been merging the separate computer systems of various departments into the county’s main system, Sciortino said. This happened last year with the county recorder’s office system, and it will happen this year with the county’s jail and mental retardation and developmental disabilities systems, he said.

“As we see revenues continue to decline, what we’re doing is combining services and doing a little bit more with less,” he added.

At Monday’s reorganizational meeting, commissioners unanimously reappointed Anthony T. Traficanti as board president and John A. McNally IV as vice president for 2009, keeping them in their respective posts for the fifth consecutive year. Both were re-elected last fall to their second four-year terms. The commissioners set their regular meetings for 10 a.m. Thursdays in the county courthouse basement.

milliken@vindy.com