Sheriff finds some big raises ‘offensive’

May 16, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Don’t give out big pay raises, Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene implored fellow county officials during a staff meeting Thursday.

That meeting was the equivalent of a post-mortem on the half-percent sales tax, whose permanent renewal failed on the May 6 ballot.

“If you’re a department head, or if you’re the head of a board, or the head of any county agency, whether it’s generally funded, or it’s not generally funded, and you’re thinking about giving out lucrative raises to either yourself, other employees, your fiduciaries, whoever it is, don’t do it, because it’s had a direct impact on us that rely on the general fund,” the sheriff said.

The sheriff was making the distinction between departments, such as his, which are funded from the general fund, where almost all the county sales-tax revenue goes, and other county departments, which are funded by a myriad of other sources.

The general fund is the county’s main operating fund, which supports the sheriff’s department, prosecutor’s and coroner’s offices, 911 center, board of elections, veterans’ service commission and the central administration of county government.

“It’s our lifeblood,” the sheriff said of the general fund. “The [sheriff’s] deputies, everybody knows how many times they’ve been in concessions” and layoffs due to funding shortfalls, he said.

“Whether we want to blame certain media outlets or not, the bottom line is: People are upset with it, and, quite frankly, I don’t blame them one bit,” the sheriff said. “Some of these big raises are actually offensive,” the sheriff told the county commissioners without citing specific examples.

The sheriff was alluding to an April 6 Vindicator story, which reported 760 pay increases for county employees that exceeded 3 percent in 2013, with some employees getting as many as three pay raises that year.

“We need to aggressively look at more ways to save money,” Greene said.

David Ditzler, chairman of the county commissioners, agreed.

“We need to add deductibles,” and co-payments to county employee health care plans, and make sure all county employees pay at least 10 percent of their health care premiums, Ditzler said. “We have to look at things that the private sector’s doing with that. We have to do the same things,” he added.

The tax that failed was presented as a continuous renewal. Another half- percent sales tax has been continuous since May 2007.

The 1-percent total generates nearly $32 million annually for the county, whose 2014 general fund budget is $50.2 million.

The failed tax expires Sept. 30, 2015, and the county commissioners would lose no revenue from it if they return it to the ballot and pass it this November or in May 2015.

Having been hit with reductions in state funding and investment income, the general fund is facing a $1.5 million shortfall this year and a $6.5 million shortfall next year, and needs an extra quarter-percent sales tax to recover, said Audrey Tillis, county budget director.

“To issue debt in order to finance operations is not a good practice,” Tillis said, cautioning the commissioners against borrowing money to run county government.

“We need three-quarters of a percent to balance the budget,” Ditzler said, adding that he wants to return to the ballot with that amount of sales tax dedicated to the justice system.

Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti said she believes three-quarters of a percent for five years “would be probably the target number,” with an annual report to the public on how that money is being spent.

“Having it renewable every five years is, without a doubt, the way to go” to make county officials accountable to the taxpayers, Greene said.