(VIDEOS: CREIGHTON, BERNABEI, HANKE & HAROLD) DOES MONEY FIND STARK COUNTY OR DO STARK CO. OFFICIALS FIND MONEY? ANOTHER WINDFALL OF NEARLY $1.3 MILLION ON TOP OF $1.1 REPORTED RECENTLY.

 VIDEO UPDATE AT 07:33 AM

The fact that money is finding Stark County officials is no laughing matter at Stark County commissioners meetings these days.

Officials are well aware that some $2.4 million has more or less mysteriously appeared over the last several months as they grapple with putting together the Stark County General Fund Budget for 2012.  But they also realize that "the money finding them" is going to raise the eyebrows among a certain part of the Stark County citizenry rank and file.

One such "eyebrows raised person" might be Republican Craig T. Conley who is running as a Republican to unseat sitting commissioner and Democrat Thomas Bernabei.

Conley is the leading Stark County political curmudgeon when it comes to believing what Stark County elected and non-elected officials say about their revenues and expenditures and managerial control of costs techniques.

A week ago or so, Stark County Auditor Alan Harold blessed the commissioners with the news that $1.1 million in "overpaid" personal property taxes and real property taxes had accumulated and although Stark County will forever and ever be obligated to repay the overpaying taxpayers should they some day file a claim, the chances of that happening get more and more remote by the day, and therefore Auditor Harold thinks there is no good reason not to certify that the $1.1 million is a resource that the commissioner can spend.

Last week Auditor Harold hinted that more blessings were to come.  But he wouldn't say exactly from where and how much.  However, county officials were praying for a cool $1 million or so.  The question:  would the $1 million rain down in the form of "pennies - 100 times a million - raining down from heaven?"

Lo and behold!  Prayers have been answered!!  At yesterday's work session of commissioners it was announced that Stark County Clerk of Courts Nancy Reinbold had found $1 million in what is called "title funds" and that County Chief Administrator Mike Hanke working with Stark's exceptional Benefits Administrator Carol Hayn had figured out that county general fund departments had "overpaid" (that word again) their share of the county's monthly health care self-insurance assessment collectively by $284,000 and that BINGO! there you have it:  an answer to prayer - a cool $1.3 million (rounded off, of course, to the next higher number).

Consequently, the previously announced 20% cuts (on average) except for criminal justice and administration departments (10%) would dip just a little below those numbers.

Commissioner Janet Creighton is especially sensitive to the possibility that the twice repeated serendipitous raining down of money might be taken by skeptics such as Conley as being just a tad disingenuous, and took pains at yesterday's meeting to disclaim that such was the case given that she and Commissioner Bernabei have worked extremely hard since their ascension to commissionership status, to convince Stark Countians that the game playing days in Stark County government are over and that Stark voters should eschew the negativity of the Conley-esque types.

Here is a video of Creighton, her fellow commissioners, Chief Administrator Mike Hanke and Auditor Harold commenting on the "money finding county official" phenomenon.



Also, be sure to take in the following post-commissioners-meeting video tapped press conference in which yours truly and Rep reporter Kelli Young quiz Commissioner Bernabei and Chief Administrator Mike Hanke about various budget topics (money for ditching, 9-1-1, et cetera).

Included in this video is an exchange between yours truly and Commissioner Bernabei on whether or not he has any concerns about the balance of perspective of presenters at an upcoming (March 10th) Stark County Local Emergency Planning Committee (SCLEPC) on hazardous materials as same is related to fracking.



And there is more.

The SCPR shares with readers of this blog an exchange which took place between yours truly and Chief Administrator Mike Hanke on a "what if" question pertaining to "what if health care claims accelerate and there is not adequate money in the self-insured fund to cover claims - will moneys (already appropriated, implied) have to be taken from general fund departments to cover the unanticipated balloon in claims?

In the Good Book we know that "all things are possible."  But as the SCPR understood Administrator Hanke's explanation that "it is not possible" that there has been a miscalculation in the next 12 months' needs for a cash reserve to cover health insurance claims thereby obviating the possibility that the county would have to retrieve "one month holiday" moneys credited to the various general fund departments of Stark County government.

Hmm?

(VIDEOS) CAN COUNTY AUDITOR ALAN HAROLD FIND ANOTHER $936,397 OF COUNTY MONEY JUST LAYING AROUND?

Last Monday Stark County Auditor Alan Harold astounded everybody at a weekly Stark County commissioner work session when he revealed that he had found "lost" money (i.e. overpaid/unclaimed property taxes and personal taxes) to the tune of $1.1 million that he was willing to certify to the commissioners as being available to allocate to the Stark County general fund departments of government for 2012.  However, the overpaid taxes are always subject to the claim of the overpaying taxpayer.

What an unexpected surprise that was!

And, perhaps, he was at it again at yesterday's meeting?

Chief Stark County Administrator Mike Hanke (supported by Stark County Auditor Alan Harold) took center stage at the meeting to announce a "draft" budget wherein previously announced (February 1, 2012) 23% (clerk of courts), 14.07% (coroner), 25.79% (family court), and 15.13% (Probate Court) cuts became 20%, 10%, 10% and 10%.

The SCPR for one was interested to hear of this revision.

How could this be?  Where was the projected shortfall of $936,397 in the light of the Hanke/Harold suggested revisions going to be made up?

Aha!  Enter Auditor Harold.

It appears that Harold is finding money that was just sort of laying around under the stewardship of former Kim Perez (whom Harold defeated in November, 2010).

Such is certainly the case with the $1.1 million in overpaid real property tax and personal property tax money by Stark Countians who have not made a claim on the overpaid monies during the past five (5) years.

Hmm?

Here is a video of Harold and Hanke doing a press conference yesterday to explain to media how they plan to balance the county budget.



Kim Perez (a Democrat) is not former Stark County Treasurer Gary D. Zeigler (also a Democrat) but readers of the SCPR will recall how forcefully Republican Harold castigated Zeigler for the manner in which he ran the county treasury during his time in office (1999 - 2011).

While he did hit Perez hard during the 2010 campaign, it seems that Harold has turned over a new leaf now that he is auditor himself and appears to The Report to be much more gentle in assessing how he could be finding this money that has been there all along and not a peep from Perez when he was auditor.

Harold now very kindly and gently says that formerly the records were not updated as often as perhaps they should have been.

What is this?  Has Harold been talking to Sarah Brown (wife of Stark County Court of Common Pleas Judge Charles E. Brown, Jr.) of the Stark GOP's Votes for Women about the need for more civility in government?

A week or two ago, Brown and her compatriots at the Votes for Women sent out a press release scoring Democratic Alliance Councilwoman Sue Ryan for being uncivil to Republican state Representative Christina Hagan in their square off on who is to represent the Stark-based Ohio 50th House District.  Uncivil?  Yes, according to Brown et al for Ryan calling Hagan a "twit."

So maybe Harold took the Votes for Women admonition to heart in lightening up on Perez?

Well, anyway the real point is that the SCPR believes that Harold is about to find more "just laying around money" within the records of the Stark County auditor's office to the tune of $936,397!

But the prospective find is not yet "his final answer."  It will likely come next Tuesday (February 13th) when he and Stark County Treasurer Alex Zumbar appear for their monthly session on county finances with county commissioners.

Harold is playing coy right now.  Probably because he can't believe what he is seeing and wants to make absolutely certain that his eyes are not deceiving himself.

However, the SCPR believes that he and Hanke are conservative enough that they would not have breathed a word of the possibility of another "gold strike," if it weren't pretty clear that it is for real.

Judge for yourself.

As is usual, the SCPR did a video of yesterday's session.

What do you think the chances are that Harold will confirm next Tuesday an additional nine hundred thirty six thousand three hundred ninety seven dollars ($936,397) in new found money?

Here is a second video of yesterdays budget work session wherein Chief Administrator Hanke explains to Commissioners Creighton and Ferguson how the proposed alternative budget came about.

IS STARK CO. CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR MIKE HANKE HELPING THE STARK COUNTY COMMISSIONERS LOOK GOOD?

As the Stark County Political Report has said from the beginning of their terms (Bernabei in November, 2010; Creighton in January, 2011), these newly elected commissioners have really picked up the pace in terms of their accessibility, their transparency and keeping the Stark County public informed.

One of the new measures that they have instituted which Stark Countians should be taking advantage of in droves is their scheduling of work sessions on Monday and Tuesday of nearly every week and sometimes they even schedule a third meeting.  One such "extra" work session was held on April 22nd for Stark's Ohio General Assembly delegation (all showed up except for Christina Hagan) to hear:

• about a list of "unfunded mandates" that various county officials (as presented by Stark Common Pleas Judge Tayrn Heath) want funded or eliminated,
• about the desire of former Stark County Commissioner to get state authorization to impose an increase in the county's hotel and bed tax to fund a horse show arena at the Stark County Fairgrounds
• about the impact that cuts in local government funding that the state of Ohio is about to exact of governments across the state will have on Stark, 
• about Commissioner Pete Ferguson desire that they get behind a $30 million project to Stark County to bring a veterans home to Stark County, and
• about concerns on the impact (very abbreviated in scope) of Senate Bill 5 on local government operations.

The Report believes that the work sessions are more informative and substantive (in terms of the thoroughgoing discussion of the topic at hand) than the regular weekly Wednesday session at which the commissioners actually pass resolutions that effectuate county government programs, policies and projects.

Topics of the work sessions started out being put on the "regular meeting"  weekly county agenda so that citizens could know in advance what was going to be discussed at a given work session.   However, somewhere along the way  the topics to be discussed disappeared.

While the Stark County public has not availed itself yet, in meaningful numbers, of the opportunity to come and see Stark County government in process, The Report, for one, will be hammering away at citizens to take note of the work sessions and to attend, to listen and afterwards make input to the individual commissioners as to their thoughts on particular the particular topics discussed (e.g. countywide 9-1-1 rehabilitation, the Stark County ditching program, the collection of delinquent property taxes, economic development and the like).

In lieu of the public showing up, yours truly is very likely to be at the meeting in order to do an analysis of the significance of the session to Stark Countians.  But, of course, The Report urges the public to come and see for yourselves and also in showing up to encourage the commissioners to continue their work (which includes evening meetings out in the townships, villages and cities of Stark on county operations) of being  accessible, transparent and informative to the Stark citizenry.

As stated above, "somewhere along the way the topics to be discussed" at the work sessions came up missing on the agenda.  Today, The Report had occasion to make an issue of the "missing topics" with County Administrator Mike Hanke.

Not long ago Commissioner Creighton brought up the fact that the minutes of the regular weekly meetings were not being prepared in a timely fashion.

The Report thinks that Hanke (former managing editor of The Repository and who was heavily supported for the job of county administrator by former Commissioner Tom Harmon) has done a generally competent job as administrator under some very trying circumstances (i.e staff cuts).  However, The Report believes he has fallen short in several areas:

• making sure that the public has access to the happenings of the commissioners as reported in the minutes of the board of commissioners (which appears to have been corrected),
• listing the topics to be discussed at the work sessions so that the public and the media knows what to expect as discussion items.

The Report believes - and communicated to Hanke face-to-face that The Repository knows full well what is going to be discussed at the unarticulated work sessions whereas the SCPR and the general public does not.

Of course, Hanke denies that his former employer has an advantage.  However, The Report is skeptical that such has been the case.

It would unfortunate if the progress being made by commissioners in improving the processes of and visibility of county government for their effort to be undermined by a lack of administrative due diligence.

The Stark County Political Report has every confidence in the current Board of Stark County Commissioners that they will see to it that adjustments are made to correct the current administrative deficiency discussed in this blog.

Here is a copy of the community meetings list; which, by the way, was ably constructed and coordinated by Administrator Hanke,  whereby the commissioners have been getting out into greater Stark County (and will continue to do so).  Stark Countians should be attending these meetings and making their input with commissioners on the various issues that they deal with on a daily basis.

(VIDEO) COUNTY "UNEXPECTED" CARRYOVER FACTORS INTO CREIGHTON'S DECISION NOT TO PUT 0.25 SALES TAX ON MAY BALLOT. IF VINCE FRUSTACI HAD NOT STOLEN FROM THE TAXPAYERS, STARK WOULD HAVE HAD ABOUT A $10 MILLION SURPLUS

No wonder the Stark Commissioners backed off talk about putting the 0.25 sales tax renewal on the ballot in May ballot.  It came out on Friday last that the county will be carrying over a $7.1 million surplus over from 2010 to 2011.

It is clear to the SCPR, had the county NOT come up missing $2.96 million (which federal Judge John Adams said he felt was stolen in its entirety by former Stark treasury Chief Deputy Vince Frustaci; Frustaci admitted to taking $2.46 million), then Stark County would be entering into 2011 with guess what?

A $10 million dollar surplus.

Wow!!!

Who is keeping the books for Stark County?  Does anyone in Stark County government financial operations have credibility these days? 

Astounding, astounding; truly astounding!!!

Commissioners said Friday that a renewal has virtually no chance to pass in May.  Commissioners Bernabei and Ferguson did not include the $7.1 million surprise as one of their reasons for not pressing forward in the primary, but if they were wavering at all on the matter, the $7.1 million clearly could have been the  "straw that broke the camel's back!"  Commissioner Creighton did refer to the carryover as been among her considerations.

To The Report, the revealing of the $7.1 million reflects negatively on the believability of county financial officials who have the duty to collect and disseminate county financial information.  Not that they are intentionally misleading the public.  However, it clearly appears that they do not have a grip on a similitude of "real-time" county finances.

The Report understands that there is some lag between collecting and reporting, but a surprise such as this is unacceptable.

The new commissioners (Creighton and Bernabei) should be "not too pleased" at being blindsided by this news.  It is clearly bittersweet for them.

Obviously, they want the county austerity measures to be mitigated as revenue resources allow.  In this sense, the news of more carryover than expected is good news.

But, on the other hand,  it has to make them wary of the reliability of the financial data they are getting. 

The SCPR believes that Commissioners Bernabei and Creighton, with the full cooperation of Commissioner Ferguson, have already taken significant moves to restore public trust and confidence in county government.  Moreover, the commissioners acknowledge that they have much more work to do.

The question that has to lurk in the back of their minds is whether or not they will be undermined on county financial information they present to the public in the future with revelations akin to the one that surfaced on Friday.  For if a repeat happens, their efforts to build credibility will suffer measurably.

In a conversation that yours truly had with Mike Hanke after Friday's meeting, he seemed to be pointing at the Stark County Budget Commission comprised of Stark County Auditor Kim Perez, Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero and Stark County Treasurer Alex Zumbar.  Of course, for the time period we are talking about, Zumbar was not treasurer and for most of the period former Treasurer Gary D. Zeigler would have been the treasury's commission member.

Of course, the SCPR is not real well taken with member Ferrero and his financial wizardry.   Ferrero has already admitted in a commissioner meeting a few months back that he does budgeting of the Stark County prosecutor's office with an element of a hope and a prayer.

The SCPR is skeptical of the Hanke suggestion that it is the commission's fault.  However, he may be correct.

But just so the Stark County public has independently elected members on the Stark County Budget Commission, perhaps, a couple of financially and fiscally astute citizens should step forward to run for the commission.  However, first, some group - let's say, for example the "Vote No Increased Taxes Committee" - will need to circulate petitions to get county voter approval of adding two new members to the commission (see the statutory language below).

For months yours truly has sat at commissioner meetings and drumbeat after drumbeat after drumbeat heard the doom and gloom from the commissioners about 2011 and 2012 and beyond.

Commissioners mandated 16% cuts from all county general revenue funded departments and warned that if the 0.25 sales tax set to expire in June, 2011 wasn't renewed or replaced with equivalent revenues, there would be an additional 25% cut in 2012.

Revelations of the $7.1 million tend to give credence to those Stark Countians who adamantly maintain that Stark County does not need a county "add on" to Ohio's sales/use tax and by offering services

In post-meeting press interviews, County Administrator Mike Hanke offered "reasons why" the enhanced surplus materialized.

Laurie Huffman of The Alliance Review put it very aptly in Stark voters won't see sales tax on ballot in spring (January 8th edition)

When questioned after the meeting on the $7.1 million carryover, Mike Hanke, county administrator, said the county moved into 2009 with a $1.7 million carryover and into 2010 with $6.2 million. The extra sales tax imposed by the then board of commissioners is what fueled the jump in carryover between 2009 and 2010, he explained. There was an additional $11 million generated before the sales tax increase was repealed, and the county took $5.5 million, which was put into the budget stabilization fund. The other $5.5 million went toward the county 911 dispatch system.

Hanke further reported after the county covered the $3 million stolen from the treasury in 2010, there was roughly $2.2 million left in the budget stabilization fund. Add into that $3.2 million in uncertified funds, or revenue funds from various county departments, and $1.6 million in unspent funds, and the total comes to about $7.1 million, in round figures.
“We were only hoping for about a $5.5 million carryover, so this is obviously very hopeful for us,” said Hanke, “and we hope to put a good portion of the money back into the budget stabilization fund because there is $11 million less in revenue projected going into 2012, without the sales tax renewal or increase. And, you can see it is not on the ballot yet.”

A question that the SCPR asked Hanke is whether or not commissioners can expect a "blow-back" from county officeholders once it dawns on them that the county has more "extra" money than was originally projected.  Hanke acknowledged that there might well be a reaction from county officeholders affected by the 2011 budget 16% cuts.

SCPR readers will recall that there once was talk that money set aside for rehabbing Stark's countywide dispatch system ($2.5 million) be diverted to lessening the degree of cuts made by Sheriff Swanson.

The commissioners deserve not to be surprised by the information they got on Friday.  In order to effectively manage the finances of Stark County, what information they get needs to be highly accurate.

Here is a video of commissioners acting not to place the 0.25 sales tax renewal on the May ballot and planning to take county government out to the people.