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Mahoning officials accused of bad budget planning
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County Commissioner candidate Carol Rimedio- Righetti said a “lack of planning and the lack of priorities on the part of commissioners has played a large role in Mahoning County being in this desperate situation.”
Rimedio-Righetti, a Youngstown councilwoman, is challenging incumbent Commissioner David Ludt in the Democratic primary next month.
Rimedio-Righetti acknowledged Friday, during a press conference outside the county courthouse, that the county lost revenue because of a recession, but she criticized the commissioners for poor long-term planning.
“With foresight, planning and setting of priorities, we would not be in this desperate situation in Mahoning County,” she said.
The commissioners approved the 2010 county general-fund budget Thursday that is $9.4 million less than the county spent last year.
“It doesn’t seem like there is a team effort” among the three commissioners, Rimedio-Righetti said.
In response, Ludt said the three commissioners agree 98 percent of the time and work well as a team.
Ludt said Rimedio-Righetti shouldn’t be critical of the commissioners when Youngstown is facing its own financial challenges.
“She needs to clean up her own backyard,” Ludt said. “She’s been there for about eight years, and what has she done? There’s so much rhetoric and no substance to what she says.”
When asked what she’s done to save money for Youngstown in this year’s budget, Rimedio-Righetti said she gave up her $5,000 city-paid travel expense account and pays for her own cell phone.
Ludt added: “Guess what? I don’t have a [county-paid] cell phone, and all the traveling I’ve done in my 12 years as commissioner, I’ve never submitted a bill to the county for any of it.”