Staff report

WARREN

The Trumbull County commissioners have scheduled public hearings next month about increasing the county sales tax by a quarter- percent.

The hearings will be 11 a.m. April 15 and 6 p.m. April 20. Both will be in the commissioners meeting room, fifth floor of the county administration building, 160 High St. NW.

Commissioner Frank Fuda said last month that the sales tax was probably going to increase by a quarter percent in the coming weeks because of reductions in the amount of tax money the state returns to local communities and because of a reduction in the county’s “rainy-day fund” to less than $2 million.

Fuda said Wednesday the increase, which would generate about $6 million per year, is necessary so that the county can properly maintain buildings and staff the sheriff’s office.

“Unless sales taxes come in a lot better than what they’ve been coming in, we’re going to need to lay people off this summer,” Fuda said.

The adult and juvenile jails need capital improvements, including door-lock systems, said Adrian Biviano, Trumbull County auditor.

Sheriff Thomas Altiere said he needs additional deputies to provide adequate security at the courthouse, to serve legal papers and transport prisoners, and to have sufficient staffing for the road-patrol division.

“Sometimes we only have two people at the court,” Altiere said, noting that there are two people away from their jobs because of illness. “We’d just want to get us back to where we were two years ago,” Altiere said of staffing.

Trumbull County’s 6.75-percent sales tax rate is among the lowest in Ohio. Sixty-five of Ohio’s 88 counties have rates of 7 percent and above.