(VIDEO) SCPR SERIES ON 2014 STARK CO. BUDGET - Q & A COMMISSIONER COMMENTS

VIDEO

BUDGET DIRECTOR NICHOLS

&

COMMISSIONER TOM BERNABEI

Q&A ON BUDGET PRESENTATION

=============================

COMMISSIONER RICHARD REGULA

ON

"PLANNING ASPECT OF BUDGET"
==============================

COMMISSIONER JANET CREIGHTON

ON

THE NEED TO BE FRUGAL IN BUDGETING
 

As "a public service" the SCPR brings to everyday Stark Countians a multi-part series (eight blogs in all) on the "proposed" (see disclaimer in graphic above) 2014 Stark County budget.

Today, The Report presents "Volume Question & Answer (including Commissioner Regula and Creighton comments)" of Stark County Commissioners' Budget Director Chris Nichols' 2014 Stark County "proposed" budget.

Readers of this blog to get a full appreciation of Nichols' presentation should make sure that they have read prior blogs in order as listed below:

1. Volume 1
2. Volume 2 
3. Volume 3 
4. Volume 4
5. Volume 5 
6. Volume 6

In Volume 1, Commissioner Thomas Bernabei appears in the video and outlines the four (4) guidelines that he and fellow commissioners Janet Creighton and Richard Regula laid out to Nichols in formulating the 2014 budget, to wit:

1. The county must live within its means,
2. New revenue for the year must support the operation budget of the county through 2019,
3. Carry-over funds cannot be used to fund the day-to-day operations of government,
4. He must build a 2014 budget that forms a viable base on which budgets through 2019 can be realistically projected as being "sustainable budgets"

After about a 45 minute budget presentation (see Volumes 1 through 6), Budget Director Chris Nichols and Commissioner Tom Bernabei (president of the Stark County Board of County Commissioners) take questions from county employees in various aspects of the budget.

Also, in the video which appears at the end of this video, Commissioners Regula and Creighton weigh-in on various aspects of the budgeting process.

Regula has high words of praise for the five years out planning of Director Nichols.  Regula was commissioner from 2003 through 2006 and therefore has something to compare Nichols' presentation to.

As for Commissioner Creighton, she was at her "salty best" in reminding Stark County employees including elected Stark County officials that the commissioners will not be letting up on their oversight of county finances.

And finally a note (received by the SCPR late yesterday) from the "lead-man" of the entire budgeting process; namely, Chris Nichols, to wit:

Martin:
... .

As of now, it does not appear there will be any material changes, just a few small tweaks.

I think your blogs have been a good and accurate representation of the proposed budget.  

The only comment/note on an interpretation I would have is regarding the revenue estimates of Casino Revenue.  

I agree that Casino Revenues are well behind what the state had initially forecast.  In my budget model, I am not utilizing any of the state's forecast numbers.  I am using last year's Actual Casino revenues received by Stark County as the baseline, so the assumption is that the actual revenue received by Stark County remains somewhat consistent to 2013.

... .

Chris

The Report joins Commissioner Regula is handing out kudos to Nichols.

As readers of the SCPR know, it is rarity for The Report to hand out accolades to public employees.  To The Report, they are doing what they are paid to do.  And, as compared to the private sector (when one includes benefits), they are paid rather handsomely.

Only those like Nichols, whom The Report sees so far as going beyond the call of expected duty, merit special recognition.

That's why the SCPR wants to gag when the likes of former Canton Municipal Court chief deputy Randy Gonzalez (also Jackson Township fiscal officer and Stark County Democratic Party chairman) wants to attribute to himself (and, apparently, other family members in government employment) as rendering a "public service" as a matter of family tradition.

While he has been involved in some notable Stark County enhancing achievements:

• The rehab of Stark County's 9-1-1 call receiving and dispatch emergency services,
• The cobbling together of the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS), and
• The formulation of an economic development pact among Jackson, Plain and Canton,

in doing so, there is nothing extraordinary about his contribution. It has been "all in a day's work" for which he has been richly rewarded.

Accordingly, Gonzalez has to try the "public service" self-promotion routine on someone other than the SCPR. 

The SCPR has demonstrated journalistic "due diligence," as a matter of uncompensated "public service" to providing Stark Countians with insight into county budgeting process so that everyday citizens are in a position to judge how well or how poorly the commissioners and other elected and appointed public officials are doing with taxpayer provided resources.

Most readers of the SCPR recognize the diligence and thoroughness of The Report.

But because Gonzalez and his friends (i.e. the Maier Loyalty Club) are not used to being scrutinized by anybody, he and his ilk whine and complain when the SCPR spotlight gets turned on them.  Gonzalez, in particular, seems to The Report to have an expectation that media types act as his public relations agent.  And, by way of example, Ponder of WHBC, the SCPR thinks, accommodates.

The SCPR counts it as a good thing to be criticized by Gonzalez et al.  It is one of those situations that if Gonzalez and company were to say anything positive about the work of The Report; such would be a cause for alarm.

The Report has been covering the commissioners since 2008 and has seen numerous county budgeting processes.

The Report's take on the current Board of Stark County Commissioners is that the board is far and away leaps and bounds over any previous boards which have served since 2008 and, perhaps, going back a ways beyond 2008.

Much better than the likes of Todd Bosley, Tom Harmon, Steve Meeks and Gayle Jackson of more recent times.

Commissioner Creighton to the SCPR is the leading "jawboning" commissioner in relation to tamping down on several (not all) Stark County department heads and their tendency to disdain frugality with taxpayer provided funds.

During the department budget hearings held in the commissioners' meeting room in January and February of the year, Creighton is seen to be the most "in-your-face" of the three commissioners for those department heads who appeared to be "gaming" the commissioners on their budget numbers.

Back in Volume 1, Director Nichols is to be seen talking about there being $64 million requested on what turns out to be about a $60 million appropriated in the 2014 budget.

The excess $64 million request (remember, by some $4 million to $5 million) highlight the fact that Nichols and the commissioners have their work cut out for them as managers of county finances in staying on track for maintaining budgets 2015 through 2019 that will keep expenses within revenues without totally depleting the carry over.

With the "due diligence" they have demonstrated, the current $10 million carryover is projected to dip to $6.1 million.

The question going forward is, and, of course, the SCPR will be watching:  Can the commissioners and Nichols keep the county solvent through 2019?

Only the passage of time will tell the story, but the SCPR is betting on this board of commissioners and Director Nichols getting the job done.

Here is the last Thursday's Q&A video (led by Director Nichols and Commissioner Bernabei) with comments by Commissioners Regula and Creighton.

In order, the first video is on the Regula and Creighton comments followed second by the Q&A session.

(VIDEO) UNDERSTANDING THE STARK COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' BUDGET. CAN THE COMMISSIONERS KEEP JOHN FERRERO AND HIS LIKE IN LINE?

VIDEOS

COMMISSIONER TOM BERNABEI

TELLS

COMMISSIONER RICHARD REGULA

"NO!"

ON COUNTY SPENEDING REQUESTS

================================

CHRIS NICHOLS

COUNTY MANAGEMENT BUDGET DIRECTOR

MAKES

COUNTY FINANCES UNDERSTANDABLE

TO

ONE & ALL

================================

ALSO

CLICK ON LINKS

TO PRIOR SCPR BLOGS

TO

SEE

FERRERO & CAMPBELL

PERFORMANCES

AT 2013 BUDGET HEARINGS

It was not all that long ago that Stark County government was in crisis.

But it is amazing what a new set of commissioners can do in a relatively short period of time to restore the electorate's confidence and, to boot,  get a sorely needed tax issue passed.

Only 8 votes shy of a 14,000 vote victory.  Quite impressive, no?

As the SCPR sees it, the commissioner handiwork was largely that of Democrat Thomas Bernabei and Republican Janet Creighton.

Most of us have an experience of government that strongly suggests that once a political victory like the levy effort is fought and won, it will not be long for a reversion process takes hold that presages a march back to the conditions that precipitated the crisis in the first place.

It appears to The Report that Commissioner Bernabei is the "guardian-in-chief" of the Stark County treasurer.

In a lighter moment in the August 28th meeting, Bernabei in a kidding but in a pointedly way chided Commissioner Richard Regula (Republican elected in November, 2012; but previously served as commissioner from 2003 - 2006) about his tendency to promise any and everything to commissioner constituents when he is beseeched to fix this or that problem.

Watch this exchange.



Insofar as the SCPR can determine, the reversion phenomenon described above appears not to have taken hold in the instance of the 2011 levy passing.

However, there are pressures being brought to bear.

Chief of the pressurers are Stark County prosecutor John Ferrero and Stark County recorder Rick Campbell.

Ferrero, in particular, in the view of the SCPR, wants to resume his "king of the hill"  take on himself insofar as Stark County politics and government are concerned.

The county's financial crisis of 2010 through early 2012 had the effect of rolling back much of his public sector financial resources avaraciousness.

He appears to The Report to be an empire builder who has to be the biggest, the baddest and the most belligerent (in underlying attitude) politician/administrator in all of the county.   Yours truly would rank him right up there with Canton mayor William J. Healy, II in this regard.  It would be interesting to see the fireworks erupt should their paths ever cross in a competitive context.

A former Stark County Democratic Party chairman;  he has never, in the opinion of yours truly, divorced politics (in all its forms) from the administration of his office.

One of the forms of his political activities is the infighting which the SCPR believes he engages as he seeks to get more than his fair share of county resources in support of his aggrandizement of office.

So politicized (as a seeming primary "way-of-life") is John Ferrero that he is "knee deep" in the politics of Massillon, his hometown.  Tiger-town is the place where he "cut his 'political' teeth."

One has to wonder if there is anything much more to Ferrero than being political.

It is against this background (the Ferreros of Stark County) that the SCPR has concerns as to whether or not the commissioners can "hold the line" in keeping Stark County fiscally responsible.

The Report felt former administrator Mike Hanke (with the support of Commissioners Bernabei and Creighton) proved to be up to the task.

It remains to be seen whether or not Hanke successor Brant Luther - himself a relatively new hire - can keep the likes of Ferrero "at bay"

At last Wednesday's commissioners' meeting, new Stark County hire Chris Nichols, as director of management and budget (June 19th), appeared before the commissioners and presented what he termed as Civics 101 on the Stark County budgeting process.



It has never been clear to yours truly (notwithstanding having covered the commissioners meetings since 2008)  as to how - exactly - the Stark County budget process works.

Some people have the gift of making things - as Richard Nixon liked to say - "perfectly clear."

And Nichols did precisely that in last Wednesday's meeting.

He graphed out a time line of the process and in doing so showed how forthright the county's budget procedures are.

First, in late summer (which is occurring right now for the 2014 budges), the departments of Stark County government submit requests to the commissioners for 2014 appropriations,

(Source:  Chris Nichols)

Second, in the early fall the requests go through a three-stage filtering process:

• Review by The Stark County Budget Commission:
• the county treasurer, (Republican Alex Zumbar),
• the county auditor, (Republican Alan Harold), and
• the county prosecutor, (Democrat John Ferrero) *
•  "certifies the full amount of existing tax rates and millage are needed to meet the  estimated financial needs of" Stark County government,
• * NOTE:  In a large part of the county fiscal crisis days the Stark County Budget Commission was made up of Democrat Gary Zeigler, Democrat Kim Perez and Ferrero).  Hmm?
• Formal Budget Process within Stark County departments of government begins (e.g. auditor's office, treasurer's office, prosecutor's office, recorder's office et cetera),
• departmental needs (first identified in Step 1) are refined to be in greater detail and resubmitted to the Stark County commissioners,
• Certificate of Estimated Resources provided by the Stark County auditor's office,
• Shows the actual amount of revenue that the Stark County Budget Commission (and the Stark County commissioners) have to work with in meeting requests for appropriations,

Third, in December of each year:

• Stark County commissioners hold "budget hearings" for each and every Stark County department of government,
• at these hearing the departments provide more details (see Step 1 and Step 2) of their needs and justification for their requests,
• at these hearings the commissioners question and probe department presenting personnel (usually the department head (e.g. Stark County recorder Rick Campbell) on the particulars of their requests,

 

All of the foregoing steps coalesce into a timeline which in toto has this look:

And here are the numbers running from 2010 through 2014 projections.

For 2013, the Stark County commissioners did not adopt a final budget until March 20th.

It will be interesting to see whether or not with Nichols on board they will do better with the 2014 budget timeline.

Before Bernabei and Creighton the budgeting process (particularly, the actual holding of "open-to-the-public-scrutiny" hearings was "a hit and miss" proposition.

Now it is mandatory that elected and unelected county officials who get county general fund money in any amount be openly accountable to the Stark County public.

It is quite a treat to see the likes of John Ferrero in with seeming "hat in hand." The word "seeming" is the operative word for yours truly would wager that Ferrero doesn't seem himself in that vein by any stretch of the imagination.

The transparency of the county budgeting process is a good thing.  

A Stark County Political Report "Hats Off" to the commissioners for continuing their longstanding and abiding efforts to be accountable, transparent, communicative and open.

While The Report thinks that the commissioners are generally trustworthy to "hold the fort" against those who would take us back to the days of fiscal irresponsibility, the key is the Ronald Reagan expression:  "Trust but verify!"