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Lawyer hired for probate-court fund appeal
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George Tablack
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Judge Mark Belinky
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Mahoning County Commissioner John McNally IV
The probate judge’s outside lawyer will get $150 an hour, with a $10,000 cap.
YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County commissioners hired an outside lawyer to represent Probate Judge Mark Belinky, who has threatened to file a complaint in the 7th District Court of Appeals concerning the court’s budget.
At Judge Belinky’s request, the commissioners voted Thursday to hire Atty. John B. Juhasz at $150 an hour at the taxpayers’ expense, but his fees are to be capped initially at $10,000.
The probate court, which spent $762,859 from the county’s general fund last year, received a $690,000 allocation from that fund this year when the county commissioners approved the full-year general-fund budget March 31.
That figure is substantially below the $915,715 Judge Belinky demanded from that fund in a March 6 judgment entry. The general fund is the county’s main operating fund.
At the commissioners’ meeting, Administrator George J. Tablack noted that the probate court has only spent slightly more than $200,000 in the first quarter of this year, which would mean just over $800,000 in expenditures for the year if spending is evenly spread throughout the year
He added that he would hate to see money taken away from other departments and allocated to court budget categories, where it might not be spent.
“It would be a shame to spend $50,000 in legal fees to argue over, potentially, $100,000,” Tablack said, adding that the commissioners intend to try to negotiate a settlement with Judge Belinky without having this dispute go to the appellate court.
“The commissioners’ office is engaging in sophistry — deceptive reasoning,” Judge Belinky said. He added that he has been keeping his court’s spending at low levels because he is trying to conserve the court’s funds due to the budget uncertainty.
“I will not allow this court to be held hostage by Mahoning County politics. We care for, and are responsible for, the most vulnerable people in this community, and I refuse to put these people at risk because the commissioners give us a budget that is laughable — that’s almost insulting. We can’t run the court for $690,000,” Judge Belinky said.
The probate court issues marriage licenses, distributes inheritances and orders guardianships for certain elderly and mentally disabled people.
In his judgment entry, Judge Belinky said the commissioners must provide a level of funding he deems “reasonable and necessary” unless they “can establish that the court abused its discretion.”
Judge Belinky also said the Ohio Supreme Court has consistently ruled that county commissioners must provide probate courts with funding deemed necessary by the probate judge.
The commissioners had to hire an outside lawyer for Judge Belinky at the recommendation of the county prosecutor’s office because the prosecutor’s office will be defending the commissioners against any mandamus complaint Judge Belinky files, said Commissioner John A. McNally IV.
It would be a conflict of interest for the prosecutor’s office to represent both the county commissioners and Judge Belinky while they oppose each other in court, McNally explained. Juhasz will be paid from the county’s general fund, McNally said.
The commissioners’ allocation to the probate court this year is part of the county’s $62,841,000 general-fund budget.
This year’s budget is $4,744,332 lower than last year’s general fund spending, which totalled $67,585,332.
The commissioners adopted this year’s austere budget as the county faced significant declines in all of the general fund’s major revenue sources — the sales tax, the real estate tax, interest income and state revenue.
milliken@vindy.com