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Panel approves 2016 county budget
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County commissioners have approved general-fund spending totaling $34,067,135 and justice-fund spending of $27,495,661 for 2016.
These numbers compare with $33,624,378 for the general fund and $24,751,159 for the justice fund adopted a year ago for 2015.
The 2016 budget approved Thursday contains no money for creation of new staff positions; and the majority of the budget contains no pay raises, except for those built into union contracts, said Audrey Tillis, county budget director.
In approving next year’s allocations, the commissioners appropriated all the 2016 revenue currently certified by the county budget commission for the general fund.
However, in the justice fund, they allocated $570,059 less than the $28,065,720 in certified revenue for that fund because that fund hasn’t yet built up any reserve for cash flow, Tillis said.
“We want to make sure that the revenue is going to meet the revenue estimate” in that fund, she added.
“Basically, these budgets represent us keeping our status quo services. There are no additional services,” she told the commissioners.
The budget commission consists of the county auditor, treasurer and prosecutor.
The general fund consists of the courts, board of elections and central functions of county government, such as the auditor’s, treasurer’s, recorder’s and commissioners’ offices.
The justice fund consists of the prosecutor’s, sheriff’s and coroner’s offices and 911 emergency dispatching center.
Based on revised revenue projections, the budget commission may revise its revenue certifications during the year above or below the levels it certifies before the start of each new year, and the commissioners may revise departmental budgets accordingly in midyear.
The commissioners will perform a midyear review to address items not funded in the original requests from departments, Tillis said.
The county’s finances have been in transition as a new justice fund was created this year after the November 2014 passage of a half percent renewal and a quarter percent additional sales tax devoted solely to the justice system.
Retailers began collecting the additional tax April 1, 2015, with the county having seen its first revenue from it in mid-2015.
In the justice fund, the sheriff’s and coroner’s offices and 911 center got exactly what they requested for 2016, which was $21,689,559; $848,563; and $1,040,841, respectively.
The prosecutor’s office got $3,655,598, which was 5.1 percent less than its budget request of $3,852,071.
General-fund requests for 2016 totaled $35,162,155, exceeding by $1,095,020 the budget commission’s certification.
Within the general fund, the board of elections has been allocated $2,223,062 for 2016, which is 14.34 percent less than the $2,595,272 it requested for the presidential election year.
Tillis has proposed using carryover money to help the board of elections pay for the presidential election, and adding to the board’s budget as necessary after the March primary to get the board through the November general election. Tillis has said she expects the general-fund carryover from 2015 to 2016 to be less than $1 million.
Tillis also has proposed keeping the general fund balanced by paying for some items with other monies, such as court fines and filing fees.
The county has $1.8 million in a separate rainy-day fund.
General-fund allocations to many departments for 2016 were below their requests, with shortfalls being 4.35 percent for probate court, 4.62 percent for common pleas court, 5.83 percent for the treasurer’s office and 2.15 percent for juvenile court.
“We’re going to be more fiscally responsible. We’re going to look at items that we can pay out of our nongeneral fund,” such as paying for computer technology from grants and filing fees to make up the shortfall, Probate Judge Robert Rusu said.
The probate court asked for $1,078,900 from the general fund for 2016 and got $1,031,930.