Demands by local judges put city, county in financial bind

“With respect to the budget challenges you may encounter locally, I urge you to continue to keep open the lines of communication with your funding authority. When doing so, it is important for all judges to balance the indispensable role of the courts and court programs against the necessity of being realistic in our assessment of the short term needs and revenue constraints of our funding authority.”

Those words should etched on the foreheads of the judges in the Youngstown Municipal Court and the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court because they come from the one person who can’t be bullied by those afflicted with black-robe fever: Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer.

There’s another poignant comment from Moyer that bodes well for Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams and members of city council, and for county commissioners David Ludt, Anthony Traficanti and John McNally IV, and should reassure private sector taxpayers:

“All Americans are experiencing the impact of the financial conditions in our country. The courts of Ohio are no exception. We have been good stewards of public resources, but new realities are impacting all entities of local governments.”

Although the chief justice offered those observations in a letter to the juvenile court judge in Erie County, Robert C. DeLamatre, they easily apply to the courts in Youngstown and Mahoning County where the judges are being patently irresponsible in their demands for funds.

New quarters

Judges Robert A. Douglas Sr., Robert Milich and Elizabeth Kobly have filed a motion with the Ohio Supreme Court to force the mayor and council to provide the municipal court with new facilities, The mayor has estimated that it would cost city government $8 million to give the judges what they want — this while the administration is trying to deal with a $3 million projected budget shortfall.

Williams has made it clear to Chief Justice Moyer that Youngstown cannot afford to relocate the court. Instead, he has proposed a major reorganization of the court system in Mahoning County below the common pleas level. He has embraced the concept of a county-wide metropolitan court that would replace the municipal courts in Youngstown, Campbell and Struthers and the four county courts, which have judges who work part-time but earn almost $60,000 and receive full public employee benefits.

The mayor is also seeking council approval for his plan to reduce the municipal court’s operating costs starting in 2012 — by eliminating one of the three judgeships.

The Ohio General Assembly would have to approve legislation to bring about the reduction. State Rep. Robert F, Hagan, D-Youngstown, has agreed to sponsor the measure.

The idea for a metropolitan court has been discussed for more than a decade, but any serious attempt to make it a reality has been blocked by various special interests.

We have long supported consolidation as the only viable option left for governments at all levels for dealing with the decline in revenues and growing discontent among those in the private sector who are facing major dislocations in the workplace.

In the Mahoning County Courthouse, Probate Judge Mark Belinky has filed a motion with the 7th District Court of Appeals seeking an order to force the commissioners to give him $915,715 for this year, The commissioners, trying to prevent county government from collapsing financially, allocated $694,833.

Belinky is unwilling to accept less than what he considers to be reasonable for the proper administration of justice — this has been the governing principle for the judiciary in its funding demands — and he has taken his fight with the commissioners to the appeals court.

Chief Justice Moyer’s offer to meet with Youngstown city officials, including the mayor and the judges, is timely, necessary — and prescient.

We would urge him to include in his itinerary a meeting with the commissioners and the common pleas court judges so he can reiterated his views about the current economic climate — as articulated in his letter to the Erie County Juvenile Court judge.

Why is Moyer’s intervention necessary? Because our local robed figures refuse to acknowledge reality.

In Youngstown, Douglas, Milich and Kobly have taken their best shot — which we believe is way off the mark. The taxpayers need the chief justice to tell the municipal court to get real.

With the guidance of the Supreme Court, a solution can be found to the disagreement over court facilities. There is more than $1 million in a special court fund that could be used to renovate and upgrade the current space or find space in some other location.

Pay raises

As for the probate court, we would like to see the chief justice tell Belinky to roll back the 3 percent pay raises he granted for 2008 and 2009 and also to return the court’s staffing level to 15. Last year, Belinky hired two individuals because he said the court was understaffed.

Guess what? Just about every private sector employer in the Mahoning Valley is operating with fewer people today than they had a year ago.

That is the economic reality Chief Justice Moyer was referring to in his letter.

Here’s a warning to public officials who don’t believe in making sacrifices: Keep it up and there will be a major backlash from the taxpayers.