Trumbull County commissioners met Wednesday to crunch the numbers on this year's general funding requests.

They're working to cut more than $14 million dollars out of the requested budgets for 28 departments and entities, coming in at a total of $81.5 million.

Though the county is projected to have $66 million in general funds, the commissioners say they hope to hang on to a $2 million gift from the clerk of courts for now - bringing the updated amount available in line with 2024's general fund budget of $64.46 million.

Commissioner president Rick Hernandez says that budgeting this year is expected to be a more difficult task.

"We're gonna have to really take a close look at the departments and the requests, and delegate those dollars that we have to work with appropriately," he said. "Keep in mind that we do not have a 38 million dollar ARPA to work with."

The Trumbull County Sheriff's department submitted the largest appropriation request on the list, $20.8 million. That's $2 million more than was granted to the sheriff's department in 2024, and nearly one third of the county's total funds.


This time, the Sheriff says they're hoping to cut down on expenses by making up for a shortage of officers. 

"We're down 20 deputies and 30 corrections officers," Sheriff Michael Wilson said. "We have to pay overtime for people to stay over, and it creates a big payroll issue. We spend a lot of money that we shouldn't have to pay."

Other priority departments for the commissioners to budget include 911 dispatch and the county coroner. The commissioners say their main concern is to improve working conditions that have not been addressed for years.

"You can only kick the can down the road for so long, and then you have to do something about it," Commissioner Tony Bernard said. "And it's time for us to do something about it."