(VIDEO) SCPR SERIES ON 2014 STARK CO. BUDGET - VOLUME NO. 2

VIDEO

STARK CO. BUDGET DIRECTOR

CHRIS NICHOLS

SEGMENT 2

REVENUES - PART 1

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 2 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

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 this segment 2, Nichols talks about:

• the projected dip in revenues for budget year 2014 and the specific reasons for the slide,
• the breakdown of where Stark County revenues come from and the percentage of each category, and
• the fact that the total county revenues come from 27 different sources,

Much ado has been made by various Stark County officials (e.g. Canton mayor William J. Healy, North Canton officials et cetera) and there is no doubt that villages, townships and cities have been hurt because of the beginning in 2011 the halving of State of Ohio funds (e.g. local government funds, the estate tax and a public utilities tax) being distributed to Stark's political subdivisions.

A few years ago State of Ohio local government funding of county government was more than double the current percentage (4.3%) of total county revenues.

Some observers think that, if Republican John Kasich is reelected, there will be another round of local government funds slashing.  In recent days, the governor has come out with a proposal to make an 8.5% across-all-tax brackets in cuts.  The question is:  Will some of the make-up of lost revenues be at the expense of local governments?

Here is a 6:53 video of Nichols's comments on the state of Stark County revenues.