Mahoning County is 'fiscally solid,' Auditor Meacham says

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County still owes $11.4 million of the $15.2 million it borrowed to renovate Oakhill Renaissance Place, plus more than $3 million in interest on the remaining debt.

That is not an insurmountable burden for the county, however, said Auditor Ralph T. Meacham.

“I don’t think it’s a burden that the county cannot maintain, and, if it was, the [bond] rating agencies certainly would let us know,” he said in a Wednesday news conference in which he released Oakhill financial information.

“We have debt capacity of $70 million. We could borrow another $70 million, if we wanted to,” he said, adding he wouldn’t encourage the county to borrow that amount.

“The county is fiscally solid right now,” Meacham said.

From an operating standpoint, rents paid by Oakhill tenants, which include Head Start and the city health department, cover most of the operating costs of the former hospital turned into a government office complex.

Read more of his assessment in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.