Judgment entry orders funding for Mahoning courts

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County’s five general-division common-pleas trial judges have ordered that the county commissioners give them the full $2,290,013 general-fund budget they requested for this year, with one judge saying they may sue in the Ohio Supreme Court if they don’t get it.

The demand came in a judgment entry signed by all five of the judges and filed Tuesday.

“This court finds that the submitted budget for 2010 is reasonable and necessary for the proper and effective administration of its duties,” the judges wrote.

The commissioners allocated only $2,030,000 to the court’s general division, which is $260,013 less than the judges requested.

“We would hope that the commissioners would at least try to meet with us and discuss the situation so that we could find out what their reasoning is,” said Judge James C. Evans, the only one of the five judges who agreed to comment beyond the written judgment entry.

If the commissioners don’t fulfill the judges’ demand, “Then, obviously, we’re going to have to go to court,” Judge Evans said.

That court action might be a mandamus lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court, he said, adding that the judges likely would win there based on past court rulings in similar cases.

The judges invited the commissioners to meet with them July 6 in Judge Maureen A. Sweeney’s court, but found out “at the last minute” that the commissioners weren’t coming, Judge Evans said.

Commissioner David N. Ludt said Anthony T. Traficanti, chairman of the county commissioners, canceled that meeting.

“We’ve always met with the judges. We’ve had some scheduling conflicts,” Traficanti said. “We will do what we can to accommodate the judges as we have in the past,’’ Traficanti said. “We will schedule a public meeting with the judges as soon as possible,” to discuss the budget, in accordance with the state’s Sunshine law, Traficanti said.

“I’ve never refused to meet with them,” Ludt said of the judges. However, Ludt said he believes all three commissioners and County Administrator George J. Tablack should attend such a meeting; and Ludt noted that one commissioner cannot make a budget decision.

“Are we going to lay another whole department off to give them their $260,000? What do we do? Where do we get that money from? That’s going to mean more layoffs for somebody unless we can come up with some refinancing of something,” Ludt said.

The judges have had their employees forego pay raises, and they have shifted many operating costs from the county’s general fund to other court funds to reduce the demand on the general fund, the judgment entry said.

“We’re bare bones here now,” Judge Evans said. He added that court operations can’t be maintained if layoffs and unpaid floating holidays, similar to those incurred in other county departments, are imposed on court staff.

Ludt said he believes the court could stay within its general-fund budget allocation if it were to reduce its operations from a five-day work week to a four-day work week, but he said the judges did not favor that idea.

“They’re all reasonable people. We’re reasonable people. I’m sure we can work something out,” Ludt concluded.