Commissioners eye budget cuts, approve 'buy American' measure

By Peter H. Milliken

The county joined area communities in agreeing to ‘buy American’ for projects funded by federal stimulus dollars.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County commissioners plan to adopt a full-year 2009 general fund budget Tuesday, and it likely will be substantially below last year’s spending level.

When the commissioners meet at 10 a.m. that day in the county courthouse basement, they’ll probably adopt a budget totaling about $62 million, Commissioner John A. McNally IV said Thursday. General fund spending last year was $67.5 million.

The general fund is the county’s main operating fund, upon which the sheriff’s and prosecutor’s offices, courts, 911 center and board of elections depend.

Commissioners will be enacting the full-year budget at the last minute. State law requires its adoption by Wednesday.

Due to uncertainties in county revenues, the commissioners adopted in December only a temporary first quarter budget for this year, which totaled $16,117,448.

“The commissioners, as a group, have not completed looking at the budget and determining where the cuts are going to come from. I think it’s safe to assume that most, if not every, department will see some cuts,” McNally said.

Substantial cuts will be made in the sheriff’s budget, and cuts can be expected in the juvenile court budget, McNally said.

Commissioners will determine in the next few days whether other court budgets need to be reduced, he said.

McNally said the commissioners haven’t decided whether Probate Judge Mark Belinky will get the full $915,715 he demanded in a judgment entry. The judge said he would file a complaint in the 7th District Court of Appeals if the commissioners don’t meet his demand.

“It’s going to be up to those elected officials to figure out how they’re going to deal with the budgets that they’re given,” McNally said, referring to officials such as the sheriff, prosecutor, coroner, auditor, treasurer, recorder, clerk of courts and judges.

“We’ll have to give our appropriation with what funds that the county has, and then we will allow those departments to react when they receive their appropriation,” said Anthony T. Traficanti, commission chairman.

To set a leadership example, Commissioner David N. Ludt said he is joining Traficanti in rebating 10 percent of his $76,765 salary to the county. McNally said he is still undecided whether to follow suit.

On Thursday, the commissioners adopted a resolution committing themselves “to purchasing only products and services that are made or performed in the United States of America, whenever and wherever possible” in projects funded by federal economic stimulus dollars.

In doing so, they joined trustees and city and village council members in Warren, McDonald, Hubbard, Niles, Liberty and Girard in adopting the resolution.

George Calko of United Steelworkers Union Local 1375, which represents workers at Severstal in Warren, urged the resolution’s passage.

“It’s so important because we have so many steelworkers out of work right now. Our economy right now is tanking. We need to sort of jump-start our economy,” Calko said.

He noted that 18 of 24 blast furnaces in North America are idle, including the one at Severstal.

The commissioners also accepted the resignation of Kurt Bucheit, project manager in the county’s facilities department, effective today.

Shortly after buying Oakhill Renaissance Place in 2006, the commissioners hired Bucheit, who had been building manager under Oakhill’s previous owner.

Oakhill, which is now a county office complex, is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.

milliken@vindy.com