Trumbull County now projecting nearly same revenue as 2016

By Ed Runyan | February 7, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

WARREN

The two-year budget the Ohio General Assembly will approve this summer will affect Trumbull County’s revenue projections, but for now, it appears the county will have revenue of about $45.6 million.

That was put into writing Monday morning when the county budget commission, consisting of the county auditor, prosecutor and treasurer, met.

This time last year, the county commissioners authorized a budget of $45.7 million after estimating the county would have revenue of about $45.2 million.

In other words, when the commissioners approve the 2017 budget Wednesday, it is likely to say the county will spend about the same amount of money as last year.

If that sounds better than the alarm bells Auditor Adrian Biviano sounded a few months ago, it is because a couple of positive projections have been given since Biviano’s November request for county departments to absorb a $1.5 million county revenue cut in 2017.

One thing was Biviano anticipated that the county would carry over only $2 million from 2016 to 2017. Instead, it carried over $3.2 million, he said Monday.

Another is that associations serving county auditors and commissioners now believe that the state will compensate counties for the first year for revenue they will lose because of the elimination of Medicaid-related sales taxes.

The bad news is that the loss of Medicaid-related sales taxes in 2018 will be even more severe – estimated to cost the county $2.7 million.

And at current projections, the county could end 2017 with only a $1 million carryover.

A carryover that small could result in the Ohio Auditor’s Office placing the county under a fiscal watch, Biviano said.

County Commissioner Frank Fuda has been saying for a couple of years that the county needs a quarter- percent sales-tax increase to add $6 million in revenue.

As early as this week, commissioners are expected to name a citizens budget review committee to look at county finances and make recommendations for what they believe commissioners should do.