Trumbull County departments still expecting cuts despite more money for budgets
Some departments in Trumbull County will be getting more in their budget than originally expected. On Friday, the commissioners decided to use $2 million from the carry over fund to add to what they already decided to award.
- Auditor: $400,000
- Board of Elections: $400,000
- Prosecutor: $350,000
- Sheriff: $500,000
- Clerk of Courts: $250,000
- Commissioners: $100,000
“It's going to be up to the departments to be able to look at these amounts now,” Commissioner Rick Hernandez said. “We don’t believe that there should be a situation where there would be cuts or job loss.”
But some departments like the Board of Elections say they will have to take away services if they don't get even more.
“The possible impacts could be felt in the larger November general election,” Mark Alberini, the chairman of the Trumbull County BOE said.
The board asked for $2 million this year. With the increase, the commissioners will give them $1.6 million. Alberini said they have mandated services that the state requires to run a fair and free election which allows them to know exactly how much money they will need. For the past two years the BOE has come within 1% of what they expected to use.
“We don’t have a lot of discretionary spending,” Alberini said.
The auditor's office also wanted more saying they are still at least $200,000 short of what is needed to maintain services.
“While a budget of $3.4 million is an improvement, my office will still need to layoff about 9 employees which is more than 20% of our workforce. This will impact both statutorily mandated and critical services-including services to other county offices who rely on us for IT, and the services our offices provides to the citizens of Trumbull County,” Martha Yoder, the Trumbull County Auditor told 21 News.
Yoder said she still intends to pursue a lawsuit against the commissioner for not providing enough money.
“I believe that the Commissioners are inappropriately prioritizing non-mandated over mandated services,” Yoder said.
Commissioners are leaving it up to department heads to find ways to manage what they're given, like cutting overtime.
“If they can make some small cuts to streamline government a little bit better and work within the budgets we gave them then that's going to be on that official,” Commissioner Denny Malloy said.
The carry over fund is put on retainer for situations like a short budget. Money from the casino tax shared revenue, the Furtherance of Justice funds and more make up the carry over money. The county still has about $12 million in the fund.
Commissioner Tony Bernard said last year the commissioners made a similar move to balance their budget, transferring $1.5 million dollars from the carry over fund.
“We just felt it's necessary to keep the county moving ahead,” Commissioner Bernard said. “…Next year I’m sure we’re going to have more of a problem than we’re having this year… it’s a necessary evil right now.”
The commissioners always have the option to give departments more money throughout the year. To secure some extra money commissioners are still toying with the idea of increasing the sales tax.
“If we were going to put on a sales tax it’s going to go to the voters because I feel that they need to decide if they want an additional sales tax or not,” Commissioner Bernard said.
“We absolutely need to implement a sales tax,” Hernandez said.
“We have to wait for this new economy to settle in … I think once we get over that hump we’ll be okay,” Malloy said when asked how close the county is to a sales tax increase.
The commissioners expect to finalize the increases and the 2025 budget next week.
