Mahoning juvy court asking for budget increase

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County Juvenile Court is asking for a 2.24 percent increase in its general fund allocation for 2017 over its original general fund appropriation for this year.

In a Tuesday budget hearing before the county commissioners, the court asked for $6,523,437 for 2017, compared to its original appropriation of $6,380,261 for 2016 and its revised 2016 budget of $6,391,977.

The requested increase is due to increases in employee health care and building maintenance costs and the need to convert a nurse’s position in the juvenile detention center from part-time to full-time to meet an American Correctional Association accreditation standard, said Wes Skeels, the juvenile court’s chief probation officer.

The juvenile court’s general fund budget pays for the court, its clerk’s office, probation department, building maintenance and the round-the-clock operation of the juvenile detention center.

“The judge has done a lot with her grants in order to take some of the stress off of the general fund,” said Audrey Tillis, executive director for the county commissioners.

“That’s huge what she does with the grants,” Commissioner Anthony Traficanti said of Judge Theresa Dellick of juvenile court.

Pangio said grants to the court this year total nearly $2.8 million.

“They come to your court because of the way your court is run through your direction. You would not get those grants if you had a dysfunctional juvenile court,” Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti told Judge Dellick.

Read more about the matter in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.