Trumbull officials to OK budget plan

By Ed Runyan | March 9, 2011 at 12:03a.m.

WARREN

Trumbull County commissioners are expected to approve a general fund budget today of $42.4 million, which is about $2 million less than the 2010 spending plan.

Commissioner Paul Heltzel said commissioners felt cuts were needed because it is estimated that the next two-year state budget will result in the loss of roughly $1.1 million in county funding from the state’s Local Government Fund. The county received about $4.5 million from that fund last year.

The sheriff’s office will receive a 5 percent reduction compared with its 2010 budget — around $9.5 million instead of $10 million, Heltzel said. Cuts were spread fairly evenly across departments, he said.

Despite the need to make budget cuts this year, the county’s health-care costs are expected to rise 17 percent, Heltzel noted.

The county budget commission determines the amount of money it thinks the county will have to spend. On Tuesday, the budget commission estimated that $42.4 million will be available — $20 million of that from county sales tax receipts.

For 2010, the budget commission predicted that sales tax receipts would total $19.1 million, but the actual figure was $20.4 million, said Adrian Biviano, county auditor. Biviano is one of the members of the budget commission.

For 2009, the budget commission predicted sales-tax revenues of $19.3 million, but the actual amount was $19.5 million.

Commissioners are hoping to operate throughout 2011 without any layoffs, but they have warned departments that layoffs could occur if state funding is cut.

Trumbull County’s budget commission determined that there was a $4 million carryover of unused sales tax receipts at the end of 2010, but that amount is down from about $8 million the previous year.

Biviano said he advises the county commissioners to underestimate revenues and overestimate expenses in order to finish the year in the black, and that is what the commissioners are attempting to do again this year.

Biviano said is hopeful that sales-tax receipts will continue their upward climb again in 2011, but the recent spike in gasoline prices could hurt the chances of that happening.