New Trumbull sheriff says no layoffs planned despite talk at budget hearings

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Trumbull County Sheriff Paul Monroe said his department is “watching every dollar we spend” and hoping to get through 2017 with no layoffs, despite talk about layoffs during budget hearings in November.

The county commissioners last month gave Monroe’s department a $10,660,331 budget for 2017 to run the jail and other operations, which is $46,791 more than the department spent in 2016.

In November, when the previous sheriff, Thomas Altiere, spoke with the county commissioners about his 2017 budget request, he said he feared “drastic layoffs” might have to be made in the sheriff’s office.

At the time, Auditor Adrian Biviano was recommending that the commissioners make 5 percent budget cuts in departments such as the sheriff’s office.

Altiere, conversely, was asking for a budget of $14.3 million – $3.9 million more in 2017 than 2016.

Among the reasons Altiere said the department needed more money is because additional deputies were hired to provide security at the Veterans Service Commission building and the county’s former Talmer Bank building in 2016, and the jail was “packed.” He said labor costs also might rise because collective-bargaining agreements were expiring at the end of 2016.

The sheriff’s office, under Altiere, spent $224,435 more in 2016 than its budget, according to figures from Biviano’s office.

“One of the goals we are striving for is to maintain what we have, maintain the employees we have ... without any cutbacks whatsoever,” Monroe said this week of his department. “Where we can cut back, we’re cutting back. The last thing we want to do is take a deputy off the street.”

The 2017 overall county budget of $44.4 million is nearly identical to the amount the county spent in 2016, but Commissioner Frank Fuda has discussed the possibility of seeking additional revenue through an increase in the county sales tax.

A citizens budget committee also is meeting weekly to look for ways to trim expenses and offer suggestions to the commissioners.

A recent check of the salaries of various types of county workers shows that deputies start at $16.83 per hour and make $22.51 per hour after 10 years, the highest level.

A wastewater “operator in charge” makes from $19.65 per hour to $28.36 per hour, a title clerk in the clerk of courts office makes from $13.88 per hour to $20.22 per hour, a custodian makes from $9.76 per hour to $15.26 per hour, a maintenance repair worker makes from $16.26 to $23.58 per hour, and chief deputy in the treasurer’s office makes from $27.10 per hour to $38.85 per hour.