Tuesday, March 17, 2009
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Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti
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Mahoning County Commissioner John McNally IV
YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County’s March sales tax receipts, which reflect Christmas retail sales, are down only 1.66 percent from the March 2008 figure, but the decline marks the fifth consecutive month those receipts have declined.
The county’s March 2009 receipts, announced last week, are $2,921,666, compared to $2,971,131 a year ago.
The 1.66 percent drop was consistent with the 1.7 percent decline in December retail sales reported nationally by the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs.
A two-to-three-month lag occurs between collection of the sales tax at the cash registers and the county’s receipt of that money from the state.
March, which typically accounts for 10 percent of the year’s sales tax receipts, has been the highest month for sales tax receipts in recent years.
County Commissioner John A. McNally IV said he is “pleasantly surprised” that the drop in March wasn’t larger, but he said the five-month downward trend is unfavorable for the county.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Anthony T. Traficanti, commissioners chairman, said of the March decline.
But the five-month slide “reflects just how bad people are hurting,” he said. “There’s less money. We’ve seen an increase in unemployment. ... People aren’t spending. They’re trying to survive.”
“The economic downturns and the economic upturns that our country faces, sometimes they don’t hit Mahoning County right away,” McNally observed.
“Unfortunately, we’re sort of in that position where we’ve been down for a long time, and so, we just roll with the punches,” he observed. “And this might be an example of the Christmas season just rolling with the punches and everything sort of remaining almost steady.”
“The full effects of the economic downturn in the country didn’t hit Mahoning County in December, and we’ll have to see if they hit us here in the next few months,” McNally said.
Previous declines in receipts, compared with the same month in the previous year, were 9.27 percent for February, 2.35 percent for January, 2.07 percent for December and 3.2 percent for November.
The stock market and the national economy began their precipitous declines in September.
Mahoning County has two half-percent sales taxes, each normally generating about $14 million annually for the county’s general fund.
The two taxes combined generated $28,259,168 in 2008, and the county auditor’s office projects that number will decline about 3 percent this year.
Together, the two sales taxes make up the largest revenue source for the county’s general fund, which is its main operating fund.
The sheriff’s department, prosecutor, courts, 911 center, elections board and many other county agencies depend on the general fund.
The auditor’s office projects total general fund revenues will decline 12 percent from $67 million in 2008 to $59 million in 2009.
The general fund’s four main revenue sources — the sales tax, the real estate tax, state monies and interest income — are all in decline, according to the county auditor’s office.
Based on trends in all of the county’s revenue streams, the county commissioners must, by law, adopt a permanent full-year 2009 budget by the end of this month.
Because of financial uncertainties, the commissioners adopted in December only a temporary general fund budget of $16,117,448 for the first quarter of this year.
McNally declined to name a specific percentage or level of budget cuts county departments can expect this year. As for priorities for funding, McNally said: “The top priorities, I think, for Mahoning County, are criminal justice and the operation of the jail.”
Traficanti said his top priorities are legally mandated county services, such as criminal justice and the board of elections. Criminal justice spending includes the courts, jail, prosecutor’s office and indigent defense, he noted. The 911 center isn’t mandatory, but it is a top priority for him, Traficanti concluded.
milliken@vindy.com