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Budget likely to stay same for 2011
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
If boring is what you like in the budgeting of your county, then Trumbull is for you.
For the fourth- consecutive year, Trumbull County commissioners are expecting to approve essentially the same budget: about $44.5 million.
They also are hoping to operate in 2011 with no layoffs and no employee pay increases.
The budget has ranged from about $44 million to $46 million over those four years, mainly because of issues that didn’t indicate a change: In 2009, there was an extra pay period costing more than $1 million, and in 2010, the county took in about $1 million from Ohio Edison and gave about $800,000 of it to 23 Trumbull County townships.
There is one big question mark, however, that could change all of that, the three county commissioners and Auditor Adrian Biviano said Wednesday.
During budget hearings Tuesday and Wednesday, Biviano told department heads to prepare for layoffs or other cuts if the state forces the county to help offset the state’s budget shortfall, estimated at around $6 billion.
For instance, if the state takes away the $4.5 million it gives Trumbull County each year through the Local Government Fund, the county couldn’t absorb that without slashing budgets, Biviano said.
Each department head would decide how to eliminate costs in his department, Biviano added.
Trumbull County, which had a carry-over balance of around $8 million to $10 million this time last year, has seen that carry-over drop by about $4 million, Biviano said.
“We really don’t know about the budget out of Columbus,” Biviano said. “It’s really difficult to budget an unknown environment, so we’re going to budget from our financial position right now.”
Sales-tax collections rebounded from a $2 million drop in 2009 to a $1 million increase in 2009. But a likely increase of about $1 million in health-care costs will offset that, Biviano said. That works out to an increase of about 16 percent, Biviano said.
When Sheriff Tom Altiere sat down with commissioners Wednesday morning to talk about his budget, the conversation was brief.
“We want the same thing as last year,” he said. His budget seemed to confirm his statement, as his requests for running the sheriff’s department and jail total $9,871,116, or $454 less than those two areas are expected to spend in 2010.
Step-pay increases and longevity-pay increases will be offset by fewer corrections officers and one less deputy, said Don Guarino, chief deputy.
Commissioner Paul Heltzel said he and fellow commissioners Dan Polivka and Frank Fuda want all county employees to take a wage freeze in 2011, though Ohio law allows safety forces, such as deputies and corrections officers, to take wage issues to binding arbitration.
“We feel that based on our fiscal position, that is unlikely,” Heltzel said of having an arbitrator order higher wages. The county is in negotiations with several unions now, Heltzel said.