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Posted February 6, 2005 6:09 PM.
Officials answer issue 1 questions (part 1)
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Q: How many county employees will be laid off if the levy fails?
A: Exact numbers aren?’t known, said Commissioner Judy Shupe, because some departments are waiting to turn in their 2005 budgets until after the election.
Officials originally estimated 130 employees would be laid off ?— 100 from the county, 30 from the sheriff?’s office. That number represents $5 million worth of budget cuts, said Fairfield County Treasurer Jon Slater Jr.
Q: What are some factors that might change those numbers?
A: Each department head determines how many employees to lay off in their department, Slater said. It?’s up to each elected official to decide whether to cut employees or to find other ways to reduce their budgets.
Some departments have outside funds that could be used to help pay employees?’ salaries, while other departments could work with other county agencies to share a workload and save money, he said.
Q: What steps have county agencies taken to save money?
A: From 2003 to 2004, general fund expenditures were reduced by nearly $1.3 million, Shupe said. That?’s the result of an across-the-board 20 percent budget reduction. The county commissioners enacted a hiring freeze in January 2004 that has been in place ever since.
In September, the commissioners asked Job & Family Services Human Relations and Public Relations Director Aundrea Cordle to serve double duty at JFS and as County HR Director after the departure of County Human Resources Director Anita Hager, whose job was eliminated.
The commissioners planned to save the money originally spent on Hager?’s salary.
?“This is not something that happened overnight,?” Shupe said. ?“We have cut back. We have not replaced people who left.?”
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Issue 1 continued
Posted February 6, 2005 6:11 PM.
Officials answer issue 1 questions (part 2)
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Q: What happens if agencies demand funding of their budgets as protected by Ohio law?
A: By state law, veterans?’ services, courts and the prosecuting attorney can mandate their budgets, Shupe said. The state requires those departments be funded to the extent they wish. Shupe isn?’t sure which departments, if any, will mandate; that decision will be made following the election.
?“The more departments mandate, the less other departments get,?” she said. ?“The mandates most definitely are going to affect the level of services of the remaining departments.?”
The commissioners?’ hands are tied if any of the three mandate budgets, Shupe said: by law, they are not allowed to deny funding to those three departments.
Q: If the levy passes, will department heads remove the hiring and pay raise freeze?
A: The commissioners don?’t control the department heads. Shupe said: the decision to grant raises and hire more people is made by the individual department head.
Slater said he will lift the hiring freeze on his department, as will Phalen.
Q: Where will the jail be built?
A: Preliminary plans for the jail indicate it will be built at the Liberty Center, a 66-acre complex on West Fair Avenue, but those plans are ?“not written in stone,?” Shupe said.
No matter where the jail goes, Shupe said the county will build it on land the county already owns.
?“We do have the space available,?” she said. ?“Most definitely, we won?’t have to purchase land.?”
Q:. Are there other options for the jail other than building at the Liberty Center?
A: There are a few options instead of the Liberty Center location: the existing jail on Main Street could be torn down and a jail built in its place, or the new jail could be built where the West Wheeling Street jail stands now, said Shupe.
Those last two options aren?’t necessarily the best ones, Shupe said. If a new jail were built on Main Street, space would be a big issue ?— there just isn?’t any. Parking is a problem, and the prisoners don?’t have an outdoor recreation area.
?“The cost of renovating the existing jail would be more costly than starting from scratch,?” Shupe said.
Parking would be an issue, too, at the West Wheeling Street facility, Shupe continued. That location is in a floodplain, and the jail, once a Kroger store, was built atop a paved-over landfill.
Voids in the landfill cause the pavement to buckle, which in turn causes the jail structure to settle and sink, making cracks in the walls. A parking garage is an option, but the expense might outweigh the benefits.
Q: What will the jail look like?
A: The jail will have 250 beds, Phalen said, and will house maximum- and minimum-security prisoners. There will be enough beds left over to rent space to other counties, he said.
Q: What offices will be incorporated with the new jail?
A: The 911 call center will be located at the jail, Phalen said, as will the Fairfield County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
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Issue 1 part 2 continued
Q: When will it be built?
A: Phalen anticipates the jail will be built in as little as 18 months, but Shupe said it will probably be two or three years until plans are completed and construction is begun.
Q: What will happen to the old jails?
A: The buildings on West Wheeling and East Main streets likely will be sold, Commissioner Jon Myers said. The county would be responsible for the empty buildings until sold.
Q: How many prisoners do the old facilities hold?
A: The maximum security jail on East Main Street was built to hold around 50 prisoners, Phalen said. The state standards dictate the jail?’s capacity is 37 inmates; however, Phalen said, anywhere from 70 to 90 prisoners are typically housed daily. The minimum security jail on West Wheeling Street holds 30 to 40 prisoners.
Q: How many prisoners are housed outside the county?
A: Twenty prisoners per day are housed elsewhere in Ohio, Phalen said.
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Issue part 3 continued
Posted February 6, 2005 6:12 PM.
Officials answer issue 1 questions (part 3)
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Q: How much sales tax revenue is collected annually by the county?
A: The sales tax for Fairfield County is set at 6.75 percent, Shupe said, but 6 percent of that goes directly to the state. The remaining .75 percent brought in $10,250,052 in 2004.
Q: Where does that money go?
A: Sales tax revenue goes into the general fund, Shupe said.
Q: How much money does the county spend each year?
A: The county?’s general fund expenditures were nearly $30.5 million in 2003, Slater said. In 2004, that number was trimmed to just over $29.1 million. Sales tax, license fees, interest, rent, service charges, property taxes and fines contribute revenue to the general fund.
Q: If the sales tax levy passes, when will the county begin to collect money?
A: The money will begin to be collected in July, Shupe said. Sales tax revenue goes to the state first. After the state?’s and county?’s amounts are separated, the county?’s amount is returned to the auditor?’s office. The county should receive revenue beginning in September, she said.
Q: Why can?’t the commissioners raise the conveyance fee?
A: The conveyance fee is an amount of money paid when someone purchases real estate in Fairfield County. Right now, the fee is set at $1, Myers said, but could be raised up to $4 (the state maximum).
If the commissioners raised the conveyance fee to $3, that would generate $1.2 million annually and ?“would have to go for general fund relief and not be designated for any one item,?” Myers said.
Q: What will be done with the money between collection time and construction of the jail?
A: The money will be set aside and saved until the jail is built, Myers said.
Q: Where does the $7 million in revenues go?
A: Ballot language dictates that $1,250,000 will be set aside for construction and equipping the new jail; $3,266,000 is earmarked for operation and maintenance of the jail; and $1,900,900 will be used to improve the 911 call center. The leftover money will be used to pay off the county?’s share of the juvenile detention center debt, which Shupe said is now $800,000 per year.
The money the county spends to operate the existing jails is $3.1 million per year, Shupe said. That money, along with the county?’s annual $860,000 for upkeep of the 911 center, will go back into the general fund as general fund relief.
Q: How much does it cost to house a prisoner in the county per day?
A: It costs $65 per prisoner per day, Phalen said. That amount accounts for personnel, food, medical treatment, electricity and water expenses.
Q: How much does it cost to house a prisoner out of the county per day?
A: The cost to house a prisoner outside the county is $60 per prisoner per day, Phalen said. Last year, the county spent $300,000 to house prisoners in other counties. The cost in staff salaries, vehicle maintenance and gasoline to transport the prisoners was $27,300.
Q: Why can?’t we just send all the prisoners out of the county?
A: ?“Other jails won?’t take them if they have medical issues, if they?’re violent or if they?’re suicidal,?” Phalen said.
Travel distances vary, too, because Phalen can?’t always send prisoners to the same jails, he said.
?“Many times, we have to send them a considerable distance ... because the cities that house prisoners for us run out of space,?” he said.
Sending every prisoner to another county ?“would be very hard to operate,?” Phalen said, because many of the prisoners are short-term and are needed immediately for court appearances. Being housed in another county would make it difficult for the prisoners?’ family and attorney to visit, as well as the county investigators, he said.
?“We would be going continually in transport trying to facilitate that,?” he said.
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