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Four part-time court leases cost $408,218 annually
YOUNGSTOWN
As the Mahoning County Bar Association studies consolidation of the county’s lower courts, the county continues to pay $408,218 in combined annual rent to private landlords for long-term leases for part-time courts in Austintown, Boardman, Canfield and Sebring.
Those court rents range from $9.35 per square foot per year for Austintown Court, which is the oldest of the four buildings the area courts occupy, to $13.90 for Sebring Court.
Combined gas, electric, water and sewer utility costs for those four courts, which are not included in the rents, totaled $43,809 in 2012.
“We’re in good locations,” and the county pays “the best rents we’ve been able to get” through competitive bidding, said Judge Joseph Houser, presiding judge of the area courts.
All area court leases were competitively bid and awarded to the lowest bidder, said James Fortunato, county purchasing director. Judge Houser said he justifies renting the four court locations as a “convenience for the public,” that enables court users to go to a location near them.
“We have to make sure that we’re not sacrificing access to justice,” Judge Houser said, noting that the county offers multiple court locations, just as there are multiple post offices and school facilities.
bar association proposal
Atty. Scott Cochran, former president of the Mahoning County Bar Association, who has been active in the court consolidation study, said he expects a lower court consolidation proposal will come before the association’s trustees for a vote within the next two months, with public- comment meetings scheduled thereafter.
Cochran also said the Ohio Supreme Court should ask the state auditor’s office to do a performance audit on the cost and efficiency of the current lower courts compared with whatever consolidation plan is recommended by bar association trustees. “We need to establish that we’re actually going to be saving money,” through consolidation, he said.
Cochran said he thinks the Austintown, Boardman and Canfield courts could be consolidated into one centrally-located, two-courtroom Canfield area building, with the Sebring Court likely left in place because of its geographical remoteness.
“We’re renting four different court facilities, and we’re providing part-time courts in each of them,” Cochran noted. “You could save in cost by having one facility instead of three leases, whether it be one leased facility or one county-owned facility,” he added.
“You could not consolidate our courts in any one of our existing facilities, so now you’re asking the taxpayers to come up with money,” to establish new court facilities in Youngstown and in the Canfield area, Judge Houser observed.
“When you look at Canfield, you’re probably looking at some of the most expensive real estate in the county,” Judge Houser observed.
the county courthouse
Cochran also said one possible scenario would be to put a lower court and its clerk functions in the Mahoning County Courthouse, a secure building where the clerk of courts already serves the common pleas court, and move other county government offices elsewhere. The county courthouse now houses the county auditor’s, treasurer’s and recorder’s offices.
Renovation costs for county courthouse or Oakhill space for lower court use are unknown, said Carol Rimedio-Righetti, chairwoman for the county commissioners.
“There may be a need for that. I’m not a judge,” Righetti said of lower court consolidation here. As for a possible combined court building in the Canfield area, Righetti said: “Who’s going to pay for that? We’re not. We are not paying for any more buildings. We have enough.”
Because of high renovation costs, Righetti said she is not interested in moving the recorder’s, auditor’s and treasurer’s offices out of the 102-year-old county courthouse and turning their space over to the lower courts. “How would that change the historical value of that building when you start ripping out things and putting modern stuff in?,” she asked.
performance audit
When the area courts underwent a performance audit a decade ago, the state auditor said other courts “should try to emulate our productivity and our cost efficiencies,” Judge Houser recalled.
“We have a system that has worked, but, certainly, it’s always worth taking a second look at things,” Judge Houser said of Cochran’s call for a new performance audit. “The more information we have the better off everybody is,” the judge observed.
“All of the (lower) courts should be consolidated, municipal courts and county courts, and the whole structure needs to be redone,” said county Commissioner David Ditzler. There are municipal courts in Youngstown, Campbell and Struthers.
Ditzler said he favors reducing the seven lower- court locations to three or four, one in the Youngstown area, one in the Canfield area, one in Sebring, and possibly one in Struthers.
“The law is not on our side” in bringing about consolidation, Commissioner Anthony Traficanti said. “It’s up to the judges to allow this to happen.”
To save on utility and possibly rent costs, Traficanti said he favors having two or three large courtrooms in a central location.
Any changes in Mahoning County’s lower-court configuration would have to be enacted by the Ohio Legislature and signed by the governor, Cochran said.
The area courts’ utility costs are paid from the county’s general fund, which is its main operating fund. Their rents are paid from the general fund, except that part of the Boardman Court rent is paid by court filing fees.
The courts try to use filing fees and probation fees to pay their expenses whenever possible, Judge Houser said.
The courts’ landlords repair the buildings and parking lots, clear snow and ice from those lots and provide free employee and visitor parking.
The courts are cleaned by the county facilities department.
All of the area courts have been renovated by their landlords in recent years at no extra charge to the county beyond the lease price, Fortunato said.
clerk’s view
Anthony Vivo, county clerk of courts, said he finds all the area court facilities to be satisfactory. “They’re all run very efficiently,” and their space is well- organized, Vivo said of the four facilities. The Canfield and Sebring locations were built to be courts; and the Boardman and Austintown locations were renovated for court purposes, Vivo noted. Renovations are now under way at Sebring Court, he added.
Court consolidation might reduce rent and utility costs, but wouldn’t reduce the overall caseload, Vivo observed.
Vivo said he is receptive to court-consolidation ideas, but the process will be lengthy because of the multiple jurisdictions involved.