Mahoning County gets a reality check from auditor
In 2013, with federal census bureau estimates showing Mahoning County leading Ohio in terms of population loss between July 1, 2011, and July 1, 2012, we found comfort in the fact that more than one in three counties nationwide experienced declines triggered by an aging population and an exodus of young adults in search of jobs and a desire to build families elsewhere.
However, we could not ignore the situation in Mahoning County, which lost 1,509 people in the one-year period monitored by the census bureau.
Thomas Finnerty, then associate director of Youngstown State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies, didn’t mince words in analyzing the decline: “This has been going on for years. It’s just simple math: more people are dying than being born here. We have an elderly population not being replaced by births. This will continue as more and more young people leave the area and older stay and then die.”
By contrast, Tom Humphries, president and chief executive officer of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, shared our glass-half-full view of things, saying that while the census bureau estimates appeared accurate, there was another reality that needed to be considered: The Mahoning Valley, in general, and Mahoning County, in particular, are in economic transition, which means that population declines in the future are not a given.
Humphries noted that the region had the ability to retain younger families and attract a younger population as a result of the push to diversify the local economy, the boom in shale-gas drilling and the expansion of manufacturing.
Imagine our double-take, therefore, when we read a story in Tuesday’s Vindicator that put Mahoning County’s population crisis in proper perspective.
According to Auditor Ralph Meacham, the county had 238,000 people in 2010 and that state projections show a decline to 224,000 in 2020 and to 212,000 in 2030.
Meacham, who won election in 2014 as a political novice with extensive private- sector experience as a certified public account, said the ramifications of the population decline are clear.
“If you’re looking for a big kick in revenues, we’re not going to see it.”
‘LONG-RANGE PLANNING’
The Republican auditor, who defeated the embattled Democratic incumbent Michael Sciortino in the general election, called for “long-range planning” and “a more formalized and detailed” vision for the future.
His comments were part of the auditor’s annual financial state of the county address. Commissioners Anthony Traficanti, Carol Rimedio-Righetti and David Ditzler lent their voices to Meacham’s call for long-range planning.
Ditzler, who also came to public office with extensive private-sector experience, was adamant about county government getting a handle on its budget.
“I think we’ve got to go out 10 years, really, on a plan on where our income and where our expenditures are,” he said. “The cost of health care continues to skyrocket, and it’s something that’s very difficult to keep on top of.”
Rimedio-Righetti said she and her colleagues discussed elements of a five-year plan for county government, while Traficanti pointed out that government needs to do everything possible to ensure that jobs are retained in the county.
“As trends change nationally in the economy, we want to be prepared for that,” Traficanti said. “Looking ahead five years can only help us.”
Given that most of government’s operating budget is taken up by employee salaries and benefits, a compensation study planned by county commissioners is long overdue.
Meacham is absolutely right in saying that planning for the county’s future cannot occur without decision-makers knowing the long-range costs of operating county government.
We have long called for the development of a master salary blueprint that would apply to every department and agency of county government. As things now stand, each elected officeholder determines compensation for his or her employees.
Thus, it’s not unusual to find secretaries with comparable years of service earning differing amounts and operating under different terms of service.
The need for a master wage and benefit package was identified many years ago in a comprehensive study of Mahoning County government. It’s time to follow in the footsteps of the private sector and establish objective measures in determining compensation for public employees.