(VIDEO) SCPR SERIES ON 2014 STARK CO. BUDGET - VOLUME NO. 3

VIDEO

STARK CO. BUDGET DIRECTOR

CHRIS NICHOLS

SEGMENT 3

REVENUES - PART 2
&
"BIG" INCREASE
FROM
2013 TO 2014

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 3 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

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

In segment 3 Nichols reveals what a "conservative" financial guy he is.

Take a look at this slide from his presentation:

He relied on the Stark County Budget Commission projects of $55.6 million as the estimate of revenues available for the 2014 which he understood to be on the conservative side.

And was he correct in his assessment?

Indeed!

The real number is going to be more like $59.3 million.

The commissioners and county department heads have to like Nichols brand of being conservative, no?

As impressive as he was on the revenue projects, the SCPR thinks he might be missing the mark on his assumptions, to wit:

Most likely on the last point:  local government funding and casino revenues.

When proponents were selling the casino idea to the Ohio General Assembly, it was all "pie in the sky," remember?

How often are we seeing these days media accounts of disappointing casino revenues flowing through to local governments?

The Report thinks Kasich is going to dish out another hit on local government funding if he is reelected.