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Do Ohio counties need administrators?
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
Ohio’s counties have varying approaches to handling the county administrator’s function, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the Mahoning Valley.
The hiring of a county administrator by county commissioners is optional under state law. About half — 45 of Ohio’s 88 counties — have administrators, said Don Brown, Franklin County administrator and president of the County Administrators’ Association of Ohio.
Mahoning County commissioners last week renewed for one year the contract of their administrator, George J. Tablack, a certified public accountant, who also has the title of budget director. His annual salary remains at $93,428, after the 10 percent pay cut he is taking through an unpaid holiday every two weeks.
The vote was 2-1, with Commissioners Anthony T. Traficanti and David N. Ludt in favor, and Commissioner John A. McNally IV dissenting.
Although McNally objected to the contract because of the county’s poor financial condition, he said he would have been willing to continue with Tablack as a regular employee as he was before he got his initial contract four years ago.
“A county administrator is an important position in county government,” McNally said. “It’s the focal point, sort of the point person, for the operations of the office.”
When he took office in January 2005, Traficanti, who is president of the commissioners, said he found it “very overwhelming and very taxing” when he assumed for almost a year the functions of the administrator post, which was vacant at that time.
After Tablack had spent almost two decades as county auditor, the commissioners hired him as budget director and, shortly thereafter, added the administrator title and function. Tablack’s four-year contract as administrator began May 15, 2006, and ended May 15, 2010, before the commissioners approved its renewal through May 15, 2011, last week.
“Our administrator not only does the administration job. He’s doing the budget office, and he’s doing HR [the work of the vacant human resources director’s position],” Traficanti said. “So actually, there’s a cost savings of utilizing Mr. Tablack’s talents.”
Tablack said he believes he has served the county well by making accurate budget projections and by helping to negotiate many necessary labor contract concessions to keep county government functioning in challenging financial times.
“If you over-certify [revenues] by $5 million, and you spend that money, then somewhere about in November, you’re bouncing checks,” Tablack said, emphasizing the importance of accurate revenue forecasting. “I’m very proud of my service to my community.”
Unlike that of his predecessor, Gary Kubic, Tablack noted that his contract doesn’t have annual cost-of-living increases built into it.
In neighboring Trumbull County, commissioners have taken a different approach to the administrator’s function in recent years.
When Anthony Carson quit as their $62,568 county administrator in 2006, they gave their clerk, Paulette Godrey, the additional title of interim county administrator.
Paul Heltzel, president of the Trumbull commissioners, recalled the panel gave her a $4,000 annual salary supplement when it gave her the additional title and responsibilities. Her current annual salary is $59,691.
“We did it partly for economic reasons, and, also, at the time we had the vacancy, we just didn’t have any clear consensus [among the commissioners] whether we should fill that spot or not,” Heltzel recalled.
By not hiring someone to separately fill the administrator’s position, Heltzel estimates his county has saved between $70,000 and $85,000 annually.
A county administrator completes forms, administers grants, answers inquiries and fulfills requests from the public, performs scheduling functions, and acts as a liaison with other county elected officials and department heads, especially in matters pertaining to the budget, Heltzel said.
Trumbull County has no budget director, Heltzel said, noting that the commissioners there perform that function in conjunction with the county auditor. Trumbull’s annual general fund budget is about $45 million, compared to about $51 million this year in Mahoning County.
The largely rural Columbiana County has no county administrator. Penny Traina, president of the board of commissioners, said, as far as she knows, that county has never had one.
“The three commissioners work side-by-side to put together the budget process here in the county, working diligently with the auditor,” Traina said.
All of Ohio’s metropolitan counties have administrators, but the existence of the post isn’t limited to urban counties. There are small, medium-sized and large counties with administrators, Brown noted.
Some counties have left the administrator post vacant for budgetary reasons, Brown said, citing Lake County as an example.
There, the deputy administrator and budget director are sharing the administrator’s duties, said Lake County Commissioner Raymond Sines.
Having left the administrator’s post vacant since the retirement of Ken Gauntner Jr. seven months ago, the county will save a combined $125,000 to $135,000 in annual salary and benefits, Sines said.
“It’s a decision best left to the board of commissioners,” Brown said. “In tight times, it certainly makes sense to hold some positions vacant for awhile.
“We do that in Franklin County to control spending. We control hiring in order to control spending, and we put priority on filling positions that offer or deliver direct service to citizens,” Brown added.