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Auditor seeking increase in budget
Photo
Sciortino
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County Auditor’s office has submitted to the commissioners an austere budget, not a wish list, for its operations next year, according to the chief deputy auditor.
“We know the numbers. This is a fair budget,” said Carol McFall, chief deputy auditor. “We don’t put ‘wish’ things in here. This is what it is, and there’s no wishing in here,” she said.
“We’ve presented the tightest budget that we can present,” McFall told the commissioners in a Tuesday budget hearing.
The auditor’s central office budget calls for $909,783 to come from the general fund in 2012, compared with $885,066 this year.
The proposed increase is due in part to increased costs for employee health-care coverage, McFall said.
County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino said he has built in a 3 percent pay increase for his unionized employees should all or part of that raise be granted, but he said his current position in ongoing labor negotiations calls for no pay increases in 2012.
Sciortino said he also needs more advertising money to publish a growing tax-delinquency list.
The auditor said he will leave unfilled five vacant positions in his accounting division and three vacant jobs in his real-estate division.
The auditor’s office request for its separate information-technology budget for 2012 is $870,000, slightly more than its $860,000 allocation for this year, due to projected slight increases in equipment maintenance costs, said Jacob Williams, county IT director.
The IT budget comes from the general fund, the county’s main operating fund.
A separate operating fund for the auditor’s real-estate division will decline from $2.04 million this year to a requested $1.79 million next year, largely because the county’s costly once-every-six-years comprehensive property reappraisal was completed this year, McFall said.
The real-estate fund comes from property-tax collections and is not part of the general fund.
On Monday, Facilities Director Pete Triveri requested an $800,000 increase to restore his department to 2006 staffing levels.
Sheriff Randall A. Wellington is asking for a budget increase from $13.7 million this year to $21.1 million next year to enable him to recall all 37 laid-off deputies, open all of the main jail and reopen the minimum-security jail for overnight use.
Budget Director Barbara J. Sours said she hopes the county commissioners can adopt a full-year 2012 general fund budget by Dec. 15.