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Critic of tax hike hopes Trumbull officials resist temptation to spend
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
One of the people who publicly opposed a proposal by Trumbull County officials last spring for an increase in the county sales tax said he hopes county officials will resist the temptation to use a recent financial windfall unnecessarily.
“I guess it’s human nature” to consider spending extra money, said Ron Knight, a Republican member of the Trumbull County Board of Elections and a retired educator.
In late June, the Ohio Auditor’s Office told county officials in a management letter that came out around the same time as the county’s annual state audit that the county had too much money in its insurance fund.
The fund holds money set aside to pay claims from the county’s self-insured health-care program for employees, who contribute 10 percent of the cost.
County Auditor Adrian Biviano and the county commissioners agreed that a safe amount to keep in the fund is $3 million to $4 million, meaning the account contained at least $6 million more than needed.
The county commissioners decided in August to “spend down” the health-insurance fund over six to seven months by not putting normal health insurance payments in the account and instead putting the money in the general fund.
The general fund pays for general operations of the county, such as the jail and recorder’s office.
Asked what would be done with the $6 million or so, Commissioner Frank Fuda said it would be used to “keep the county afloat without layoffs until the next whatever period of time.”
Biviano said the money would be used to ensure that the county ends 2015 with a carryover balance of about $4 million and “close out the year,” meaning fill funding shortfalls any departments have at the end of the year. The county had a carryover balance of about $2 million in 2014, Biviano said.
Knight said his concern is that the extra money from the insurance fund is “almost like found money, and people are going to want to spend it rather than rebate it to the taxpayer.”
Knight said he “would be interested to see at the end of the year where did they transfer the money to.”
Knight said he also has concerns about a “lack of transparency” regarding the way the commissioners decided to handle the insurance money.
“The public has a right to know,” he said, adding that the county commissioners called a news conference in April to announce that they would not be increasing the sales tax – a decision that saved the taxpayers about $6 million per year.
“But they did not hold a press conference to announce this,” he said of moving the $6 million to the general fund.
Fuda said Wednesday a news conference took place to announce no increase in the sales tax because commissioners had two public meetings to discuss a possible increase, so it was natural to have an event to announce their decision.
He said the commissioners make financial decisions every week and can’t make announcements every time a decision is made.
Knight noted county officials said in April they would “put a clamp on spending” instead of raising the sales tax a quarter of a percent, but he said he’s not seen evidence of it.
Knight and others also asked for a performance audit to point out areas where costs could be reduced. “They have not done anything like that,” Knight said.
Commissioner Dan Polivka said April 29 when announcing that the sales tax would remain the same that county officials would carry out an “additional review” of the county’s finances. He said that could come from a performance audit from the state, a citizens’ committee financial review or something else.
Biviano, however, said at the time he’s not in favor of a performance audit because they cost money, and he doesn’t believe the benefits are worth the cost.
Polivka said Wednesday he’s open to having a public meeting, possibly quarterly, to discuss with Biviano “where we’re at, where we’re going,” but at least one of the other commissioners would have to agree to the idea.
“I’m always for total transparency,” Polivka said.