By Peter H. Milliken

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Standard & Poor’s, the national credit reporting agency, upgraded its long-term outlook on Mahoning County’s debt from negative to stable and continued the county’s A+ rating on that debt, the county auditor’s office reported.

“Our sales-tax revenue numbers are climbing, and together with our strategic efforts to trim costs, we are better able to adjust to downturns in our economy. That’s what these reporting agencies are looking at,” said Carol McFall, a certified public accountant and chief deputy county auditor.

The cost-cutting efforts, achieved in part through county worker concessions, included reducing the county’s total payroll from $76.8 million in 2008 to an estimated $67.5 million this year, McFall said Thursday.

Over the same period, the number of county employees fell from 2,297 to 1,865 by not replacing employees who resigned or retired, she said.

Overtime costs plummeted from $1.5 million in 2008 to a projected $524,475 this year through improved employee work scheduling by department heads and elimination of unnecessary overtime, she added.

“Revenues have been a struggle, but we’re managing the expense side of the equation very well,” McFall said.

The county’s sales-tax revenues totaled almost $27.1 million last year and are projected to be almost $29.5 million this year, McFall said. For the past 10 months, sales-tax revenues have exceeded those of the same month in the previous year, she reported.

The county had an A+ rating from S&P with a negative outlook for the past two years; and continuation of the negative outlook would likely have lowered the rating below A+, she said. The county has about $50 million in outstanding debt, she added.

“Given recent economic growth, stabilized sales-tax projections and recent steps to close budget gaps, we expect that management will be able to adjust to budgetary pressures over the two-year outlook horizon,” said Carol Hendrickson, S&P credit analyst.

“With the revised rating and now-stable financial outlook, the estimated savings will exceed $100,000” in borrowing costs, said Omar Ganoom, managing director with Ross, Sinclaire and Associates LLC of Cleveland, the county’s financial underwriters.

“In the last couple of years, in the face of a fiscal firestorm, we were able to do more with less, and our rating has been improved,” said Commissioner Anthony T. Traficanti.

The commissioners have approved about $7 million in new borrowing this year, of which $3.5 million will be for Oakhill Renaissance Place renovations, and the remainder will be for items such as new voting equipment, jail improvements and new dump trucks for the county engineer’s office.

“In an era when even the federal government’s credit rating was downgraded by S&P, this is a huge victory” for the county, said County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino.

County officials went to New York and discussed with S&P representatives the cost savings the county has achieved through restructuring its telecommunications network; and they highlighted the Mahoning Valley’s “shining star economic development projects,” such as V&M Star’s expansion, General Motors in Lordstown and Brilex Industries, Sciortino added.

Making that trip earlier this month were Sciortino, McFall and John A. McNally IV, chairman of the county commissioners.

“Credit is still king on Wall Street,” McNally said, adding that county officials “wanted to take an aggressive approach to Standard & Poor’s this year in an attempt to repair the damage to Mahoning County’s financial outlook.”