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Mahoning juvy court programs a success; funds still needed
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Dellick
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County’s juvenile court has seen encouraging progress toward breaking the cycle of juvenile delinquency that leads to adult crime, but that doesn’t mean the court needs less money next year, the court administrator told the county commissioners.
Because the court has been using federal and state money to compensate for lost county general-fund revenue in recent years, the court is seeking for 2012 the same $5.7 million allocation it got this year, said Judge Theresa Dellick.
“The worst thing you could do as a board is to look at the numbers and equate that to mean that we do not need the funding we have received in the past because delinquency is down,” Anthony D’Apolito, magistrate and court administrator, told the commissioners during a Tuesday budget hearing.
County department heads have been meeting with commissioners as part of the process toward preparing a final 2012 general-fund budget by Dec. 15. The final 2011 budget totaled $53.9 million; requests so far for next year total $64.9 million. The general fund is the county’s main operating fund.
The court, however, will have to ask for additional general-fund money to compensate for current and anticipated cuts in state funding “not next year, but perhaps the year after or almost certainly the year following,” D’Apolito said.
The court has been frugal, D’Apolito said, noting that it has steadily reduced staff from 160 in 2007 to 112 today by not replacing people who left due to layoffs, resignations and firings.
Ninety-one of the current employees are paid from the general fund, and the remainder from federal and state funds, he said.
Delinquency cases have dropped from 977 in 2009 and 1,038 in 2010, to 499 from Jan. 1 through Oct. 31, he said.
The number of felony cases has dropped steadily from 210 in 2006 to 51 so far this year, with this year’s full-year total expected to drop below 100 for the first time in more than a decade, he added.
D’Apolito attributed the drops to “front-end programs,” such as mediation, counseling and athletics, which nip juvenile delinquency in the bud.
Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti noted the juvenile court’s annual utility costs of $170,000 each for electricity and natural gas. “They seem really high,” she said, adding that she plans to discuss ways to reduce them with James Fortunato, county purchasing director.
Judge Dellick reminded her the juvenile court runs a 24/7 detention center and has many evening and Saturday programs. “We don’t just turn the lights off at 5 o’clock,” she said.
D’Apolito also said utility costs have grown somewhat due to the expansion of the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center on East Scott Street about a year ago.
Another heavy burden on the court is the skyrocketing annual cost of employee health care, which has risen by $159,342 over 2010 costs, D’Apolito said.