Suspended auditor Sciortino quietly issued pay hikes on way out

YOUNGSTOWN

In the waning days of his administration as Mahoning County auditor, Michael V. Sciortino individually granted pay increases ranging from 1.13 percent to 12.53 percent to 13 of his 43 employees.

Some were effective Feb. 23 — the day Sciortino was suspended from office by a three-judge panel — and some had unspecified effective dates.

Sciortino signed the forms granting the raises on various dates this year, with the most-recent signatures having been dated Feb. 20, designating some raises as merit increases and others as compensation for expanded duties.

The largest increase went to Thomas Lyden, who manages the county payroll department.

His raise was the only one listed as a promotion, but the form granting his raise and showing his old and new titles was not among the documents in a packet provided to The Vindicator by the auditor’s office.

Lyden’s salary rose $7,070 — from $56,430 to $63,500 a year.

Two of those who got raises already were earning more than the elected auditor’s $89,109 annual salary even before they got their increases: Carol McFall, chief deputy auditor, who got a 1.55 percent raise from $91,084 to $92,500; and Jacob Williams, information-technology director, who got a 2.25 percent raise from $90,464 to $92,500.

Janet Szenborn, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union Local 2533, said she considers the pay raises given to union members Cathy Lewis, Rochelle Bahny and Brian Wright to be a violation of the union contract, which she said forbids selective raises for individual union members beyond the pay level the contract specifies for their positions.

The new auditor, Ralph T. Meacham, who took over Tuesday for Sciortino, said he had not decided what to do about the raises.

“This is a problem, and we have to find out what happened and how it happened,” he said.

Read more about the raises in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.