Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office announced its allocations to Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties and communities within them of their shares of the state’s $11.5 million lawsuit settlement with two rock-salt suppliers.

Some of the larger local allocations were $76,252 for Youngstown; $55,519 for the Mahoning County Engineer’s Office; $16,382 for Warren; and $16,332 for the Columbiana County Engineer’s Office.

“When I announced this settlement in June, I indicated my intention to return a significant portion of the money to local agencies and governments that buy rock salt,” Attorney General Mike DeWine said at a news conference Thursday in Independence.

“We know these agencies stretch public funds and taxpayer dollars as far as possible, and we hope this money will help them make roads safer for the citizens who depend on them,” DeWine added.

“We do appreciate the check,” said Herb Laukhart, director of finance and personnel at the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office.

Although his office’s $9,628 check is not large in the context of the county’s purchasing volume, Laukhart said he hopes the money and the settlement it represents have future significance.

“We’re hoping that this lawsuit and the settlement will lead to lower prices in the future,” said Laukhart. His office’s salt price this year was $66.75 per ton for summer delivery and will be $55.97 a ton for winter delivery.

Last winter, Laukhart’s office bought 17,332 tons for its use and the use of 27 other local government entities.

“It’s going to go toward our salt purchases,” Charles Shasho, Youngstown’s deputy director of public works, said of the city’s settlement amount.

The check, however, will be a relatively small part of the city’s expected total salt purchase of $630,000 or more for the coming winter at $63 a ton. The city uses 10,000 to 11,000 tons of salt in a normal winter, Shasho said.

During the harsh winter of 2014-15, the city used about 15,000 tons of salt, he added.

This year, the city entered into a partnership with Boardman Township and the Mahoning County Engineer’s Office to achieve a high-volume discount and to get better salt availability than under the state purchasing program, Shasho said.

Under the state program, the Ohio Department of Transportation gets its salt first and other users get what’s left, he explained.

The local entities are among 850 local governments and other public agencies statewide that filed claims under the agreement the AG’s office reached with Morton Salt Inc. and Cargill Inc.

In its lawsuit against Morton and Cargill, the state alleged the companies divided the market and agreed not to compete against each other, and thereby inflated road-salt prices.

Ohio public agencies that bought salt from either company between 2008 and 2011 were eligible to file claims based on the amounts they bought.

From Morton, the Mahoning County Engineer’s Office bought $724,669 worth of salt for the 2008 season and $487,832 for the 2009 season.

From Cargill, it bought $604,322 worth of salt for the 2010 season.

Although Morton and Cargill admitted no wrongdoing, they agreed to pay the $11.5 million to resolve the state’s case just before a jury trial was set to begin.