Governments at all levels must operate with caution

We hold hope that 2012 will be the year of the taxpayer — if officeholders and candidates for elective office are forced to fully explain how they intend to spend public dollars. The financial challenges confronting governments are well known, but it is at the local levels that the effects of tight budgets are felt the most.

For this reason, county commissioners, mayors, city council members, township trustees and village mayors and council members have a responsibility to lay out spending priorities as soon as possible.

The health, safety and welfare of residents must be paramount; pay raises or other boosts in compensation for public employees should not be in the mix .

Because the nation’s and Ohio’s economies appear to be improving, there may be a tendency on the part of decision-makers to unjustifiably reward those who have largely escaped the recession that began in late 2008. They would be well-advised to disabuse themselves of the idea that budget surpluses mean more money in the pockets of those who feed at the public trough.

Youngstown Mayor Charles Sammarone and Finance Director David Bozanich have the right idea in addressing the projected $1 million budget surplus from 2010. Sammarone, who took over as mayor several months ago after Jay Williams left to become a member of the President Obama’s administration, has focused exclusively on making public accountability Job One for city government.

He wants the extra money to be used for demolition of dilapidated homes — there’s a huge inventory of such structures that have become eyesores in once stable residential areas — but he’s also aware that members of council need to have a voice in how the money is spent. The mayor has asked each lawmaker to identify a project that is important to his or her ward.

Rainy day hazard

Bozanich, who has been in city government for more than three decades, said last week the surplus dollars should be used for capital improvement projects. In response to an inquiry from Councilwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st, about the creation of a rainy day fund, the finance director suggested that any money not committed could be used by an arbitrator in contract negotiations to force the administration to grant pay raises.

It’s an unfortunate reality of the collective- bargaining process that someone from the outside with no first-knowledge of the budgetary challenges confronting a local government can order pay raises and other compensation.

The bottom line for 2012 is that public employees, who won a major victory in the November general election when Ohio voters rejected a collective-bargaining reform law pushed through by Republican John Kasich and the GOP controlled General Assembly, are not the priority.

In a presidential election year, the demands of the taxpayers take precedence over the demands of those who have weathered the recession storm relatively unscathed.

Mahoning County government is also seeing somewhat of a financial recovery, but while the commissioners control the general fund, they have no authority over the officeholders who determine how the money allocated to their departments is spent.

Thus, we find ourselves repeating what we have preached consistently for many years: Operate with caution.

Government, in general, does not generate revenue; the private sector does. Rewarding public employees for an improving economy is counterproductive.

2012 should be the year of the taxpayer.