Juvenile center makes cutbacks

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County juvenile detention center will be closing one of its four floors and laying off five corrections officers today due to a reduction in the juvenile court’s general-fund budget allocation, said Judge Theresa Dellick.

The closing will reduce the number of beds from 40 to 30 and the number of corrections officers from 32 to 27.

The judge said the court is calling on the Family Service Agency, which operates the Daybreak runaway shelter, and the county’s Children Services Board to provide alternative placements for juveniles who are not threats to public safety.

“The only students we hold in detention are those who are threats to public safety or to themselves,” Judge Dellick said.

If circumstances change, and the need arises, the detention floor will be reopened, and the five employees will be called back to work, the judge said.

If the floor were to remain closed and the five employees were to remain laid off for an entire year, Judge Dellick projects a savings of $150,000.

The juvenile court’s detention center is funded entirely by the county’s general fund, which is the county’s main operating fund.

The juvenile court, which spent $6,283,605 from the general fund last year, has been allocated only $5.5 million from that fund this year.

Judge Dellick said the 11 employees she laid off in January 2009 remain off the job, and the 5 percent pay cuts for all her employees, which began March 1, 2009, remain in effect.

The judge said she is closing the detention center floor now because she realized she couldn’t cut court services beyond last year’s cuts.