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County’s financial outlook is good, despite weak local economy, auditor says
mahoning county
YOUNGSTOWN
Despite a weak local economy, the Mahoning County government’s financial outlook for 2017 is good, county Auditor Ralph Meacham told the county commissioners Monday.
Evidence of a good outlook includes the saving of nearly $1.7 million through recent refinancing of county debt, a $6.8 million carry-over from 2016 to 2017 in the county’s general fund and a $1.2 million carry-over in the justice fund, the county’s policy of placing 60 percent of its casino tax revenues into a reserve fund, and efforts to contain expenses including those associated with employee health care, Meacham said.
General fund reserves total about $3.9 million for 2017, he noted.
The general fund, whose budget is $34.2 million for 2017, supports the courts and the central functions of county government.
The justice fund, whose budget is more than $28 million for 2017, supports the sheriff’s, prosecutor’s and coroner’s offices and 911 emergency dispatching.
The county has maintained its A+ Standard & Poors debt rating for 2017, Meacham noted.
“We’re in good shape for 2017. I think we have prudently budgeted for flat revenues in ’17, and we have further budgeted our expenditures flat for ’17,” Meacham said.
Meacham said he expects the county will lose $900,000 in the final quarter of 2017 if there is no replacement for the Medicaid managed care organization sales tax that ends this year.
That tax generates $3.6 million a year for Mahoning County.
Federal officials have said such a tax cannot be imposed unless it applies to all managed care organizations.
Meacham said the latest indication he has heard from Columbus is that the state plans to replace 80 percent of the lost revenue to the counties for two years.
Commissioner David Ditzler was critical of what he described as a pattern of cuts in state funding for local governments.
As examples, he cited the abolition of the state’s inheritance and commercial activity taxes.
“It’s ridiculous how they continue to just decimate local governments,” Ditzler said.
“It just continues to diminish our ability to maintain services you deserve as county residents,” he added.
As for the weak local economy, a significant negative long-term trend is continued population loss in the county, Meacham observed.
The county’s population was 238,823 in the 2010 U.S. Census and is projected by state and federal officials to drop to 224,680 in 2020 and 212,000 in 2030, he noted.
Standard & Poors noted that per-person purchasing power in the county is only 83 percent of the national average.
“We have largely recovered from the economic dislocation of the ’70s and ’80s,” when major Mahoning Valley steel mills closed, Meacham said.
He noted, however, the July 2016 unemployment rate in the Youngstown-Warren area was 6.2 percent, compared to 4.9 and 4.8 percent, respectively, for the state and the nation.
“It’s great that we have [General Motors] Lordstown here, but we also know that they’ve dropped a shift,” in the car assembly plant by abolishing the third shift, effective Jan. 23, displacing 1,245 workers, he said.