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Officials warned to stay within budgets
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County Administrator George J. Tablack warned county elected officials they could be held personally liable if they fail to take corrective action very soon to stay within the budgets the county commissioners have given their departments for this year.
“It’s expected that each department would be adapting their business plan to their permanent appropriation,” Tablack said after Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting.
Tablack, who is also the county’s budget director, said his office would be asking any county department that appears likely to overspend its budget as the first third of the year ends on April 30 to submit “a corrective action plan’ to his office.
State law says no department may exceed its payroll appropriation by 60 percent as of June 30 and that any elected official whose department does that can be held personally liable.
With declines having occurred in all of its major revenue streams, including sales and real-estate taxes, interest income and state funding, Mahoning County’s general fund budget is $51,728,000 this year, compared with the $61,108,862 spent last year.
“We don’t see revenues improving dramatically,” Tablack said, urging department heads to prepare to live with similar budgets next year.
“We’re going to work diligently to try to maintain as much level of service to the community as we can,” Tablack said.
“We need to continually do more with less and be smarter and more diligent in how we manage our government,” he added.
A meeting at which members of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2533 who work in the county auditor’s office were to vote on concessions had been scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
However, that meeting will take place at a later date because the union leadership needs more information from management, said Carol Williams, local president, who declined to elaborate.
The union represents about 30 auditor’s office employees, most of them in clerical positions.
Sciortino said earlier this week that cuts in his office would be “drastic,” and involve a combinations of job abolishments, layoffs and reduced work hours.
Earlier this week, county Treasurer Lisa A. Antonini announced that her office would be closed today and alternate Fridays thereafter due to a reduction in her budget, with all employees taking a 10 percent pay cut.
Teamsters Local 377, which represents her employees, agreed to the reduced work schedule last week, after her general-fund budget was cut from the $483,650 she spent last year to $425,000 this year.