Pay up, or I’ll see you in court, the Mahoning probate judge told commissioners.
Judge Mark Belinky
Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti
George Tablack
Pay up, or I’ll see you in court, the Mahoning probate judge told commissioners.
YOUNGSTOWN — Judge Mark Belinky of Mahoning County Probate Court said he considers his demand for a $915,715 court budget for this year to be firm and non-negotiable.
“If they [the county commissioners] don’t allocate it, we will have to go to court,” Judge Belinky said.
“I’m confident it’s reasonable under the law,” the judge said of his order.
Judge Belinky commented Thursday afternoon following his meeting with county Commissioners Anthony T. Traficanti, John A. McNally IV and David N. Ludt and county Administrator George J. Tablack.
If the commissioners don’t provide the full amount, which he ordered for his court in a March 6 judgment entry, he will appeal to the 7th District Court of Appeals, and the case might go from there to the Ohio Supreme Court, Judge Belinky said.
“I’m not going to put the people we care for at risk. I had to put an order on,” Judge Belinky said. “We do care for the most vulnerable in society, the special needs kids, the disabled veterans, people who’ve had family members pass away, and the mentally ill,” he told the commissioners.
The probate court issues marriages licenses and distributes inheritances, and it orders guardianships for certain minors and elderly, mentally disabled and mentally retarded people.
The judge said he issued the order after the commissioners gave him a temporary first quarter general fund budget of $190,473, which he said was “woefully inadequate.’’
“This was not a capricious order,” the judge said of the detailed 13-page judgment entry, which had nine pages of attachments documenting it.
The commissioners have until April 1 to approve a full-year budget.
The probate court spent $762,859 last year, but the judge recently hired a clerk and an assistant investigator, saying the court was understaffed. Judge Belinky said he won’t hire any more staff.
In defense of his itemized funding demand, the judge noted that his court returns about $250,000 in filing fees to the county’s general fund annually, reducing its actual demand on the general fund to about $665,000.
“Judge, I appreciate your sincerity,” said Traficanti, who is chairman of the commissioners. Given current economic conditions, Traficanti told the judge at the end of the meeting: “I just think the timing of the court order was ugly, but I certainly can understand that you need your ability to run your court.”
Although the judge stood firm on his budget demand, the tone of the meeting was informal, subdued and cordial; voices were never raised.
Tablack said the county has covered about $3 million of this year’s estimated $6 million general fund budget shortfall through cost savings in the sheriff’s department, and must achieve the other $3 million in savings in other departments.
When budgets are tight across all departments, Tablack said he doesn’t want to tie up money that could be used elsewhere by allocating it based on estimates to court categories where it may never be spent.