Mahoning County commissioners borrow $600,000

Staff report

CANFIELD

Mahoning County commissioners have agreed to borrow in the bond market $325,000 for Juvenile Justice Center improvements and $275,000 for acquiring computers and related equipment.

The juvenile-justice center improvements include new boiler and elevator installations and shower repairs, said Audrey Tillis, county budget director.

The commissioners need to borrow the money because almost all of this year’s budget already has been allocated, and the county is short on cash, Tillis said. “We can pay it off in five years,” Tillis said of the borrowed money.

The computer expenditures stem from Microsoft’s decision no longer to provide technical support for the aging XP system, she explained. The juvenile-justice center also needs a telephone system upgrade, she said.

The commissioners also approved a contribution of an additional $50,000 to the county’s Ohio State University Extension Office beyond the $125,000 they originally had allocated to that office this year.

The extra money, which came from a state workers compensation rebate, was necessary to compensate for losses in other state funding and to prevent the layoff of an agriculture extension agent, said Carol Rimedio-Righetti, chairwoman of the county commissioners.

The commissioners also voted to apply for $500,000 from the state’s 2015-16 capital improvements bill for further renovations at Oakhill Renaissance Place for the county’s Department of Job and Family Services. Oakhill is the county-owned office building on Youngstown’s South Side.

Thursday’s meeting was in the Bistro Restaurant at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center.