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Mahoning prosecutor lays off three workers, rejects staff pay cuts
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Paul Gains
‘Everybody has to tighten their belts,’ the prosecutor says.
YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains has laid off two part-time assistant prosecutors and a full-time clerk to achieve about $150,000 in annual savings, but he said he hasn’t considered a pay cut for all members of his staff.
“We’re already underpaid” in comparison with other county prosecutors and city prosecutors in the region, Gains said, dismissing an across-the-board pay cut.
Gains’ position is in contrast to that of Judge Theresa Dellick of the county’s juvenile court, who imposed a 5 percent pay reduction on all 143 members of her staff, including herself, effective at the beginning of this month, for an annual saving of $235,212. That pay reduction followed the layoffs of 11 juvenile-court workers in January.
Gains’ position also contrasts with the contract ratified last week by county sheriff’s deputies, whose work hours and pay are being reduced by one day every two weeks, and with the 10 percent pay cut being taken by Sheriff Randall A. Wellington and his leadership team.
Friday was the last day of work for the laid-off prosecutors, Robert E. Duffrin, a drug task force prosecutor hired in June 1997, and Rebecca Gerson, a civil division prosecutor hired in December 1998, Gains said.
“It’s unfortunate. We tried our best not to [lay anyone off], but we had to cut,” said Gains, who took office in January 1997. The layoffs were designed to cause “the least amount of damage” as possible to office operations, he added.
The part-time prosecutors’ departures will mean remaining prosecutors must assume their workload, Gains said.
Including the positions of those who have been laid off, Gains said his office is leaving five lawyer positions and two clerical positions vacant. “Everybody has to tighten their belts, and that’s what we’re doing,” the prosecutor said.
“The consequences are more work performed by fewer people, and obviously there’ll be more of a time delay” in responding to motions filed in court, he said.
“If you diminish the staff, that’s going to be fewer cases disposed of, which means fewer free beds in the jail. That’s the problem,” he said, referring to criminal cases in which defendants are incarcerated.
“The only time a machine can go into a courtroom is when it’s a video arraignment, but you still need a prosecutor” and a judge in the courtroom, he said.
Gains said county Administrator George J. Tablack told him the prosecutor’s office budget must be trimmed 10 percent below the $3.4 million the office spent last year.
Besides making the spending cuts through staff reductions, Gains said his office also is enhancing its revenue by being more aggressive in obtaining reimbursement to the general fund for its legal services to county agencies outside that fund.
The general fund, which supports the sheriff’s department, the prosecutor’s office, the courts and other central functions of county government, is the county’s main operating fund.
As to whether more cuts are needed as a result of the economic slump, Gains said: “Time will tell.” His office will be watching to see how much sales tax revenue the county gets this month, he said. March is normally the peak month for sales tax receipts, and those receipts most fully reflect Christmas sales.
The county auditor’s office reports all four major general fund revenue streams — the sales tax, the real estate tax, state funds and interest income — are declining.
milliken@vindy.com