SECOND IN A SERIES: CITY OF CANTON SWIMMING IN RED INK THROUGH 2019!

UPDATED:  3:39 PM

LINK TO FIRST BLOG IN THIS SERIES

VIDEOS

Canton Finance Director
MARK CROUSE

07/17/2017

Updates

Canton City Council on City Finances
..................
North Canton Mayor David Held (Encore)
on
Ohio & City Finances

"Red, red everywhere and plenty of drops to drink!"

Such is an apt description of Hall of Fame city's finances these days.

But I have done my part to help Canton out of its financial troubles.

Yesterday, after having placed two hours on a parking meter next to the building housing the Stark County Regional Planning Commission, I learned I came up short on my estimate of the time I would spend at a Stark County Land Bank meeting and post-meeting activities.

Hence, this:

Knowing that Canton needs every dollar that it can scrum up, the first thing I did on returning home was to send an "electronic' check in to Canton in payment of the ticket.

So I am doing my part!

Watching Canton finance director Mark Crouse update Canton City Council on city finances for 2017 at council's July 17th meeting was painful enough, but his projected for 2018 and 2019 deficits are blood curdling perhaps to the point of producing financial clots of a fiscal viability life threatening nature.



Of course, the question is:  Who is to blame?

The easy answer is William J. Healy, II's eight years as mayor of Canton.

But The Stark County Political Report (SCPR) does not believe that the "easy answer" is the full answer.

For one thing, where was city council in exercising its oversight function?

Healy appears to have massaged city finances "for the moment" to make it seem Canton was on a sustainable track which "seemingness," with only a modicum financial scrutiny by the Finance Committee (personified by the committee chair [Ward 1 Councilman Greg Hawk for most of the Healy years] operating as council's watchdog could have/should have stopped the charade in council's discharging it annual duty of passing a city budget.

For another, the State of Ohio through the Ohio General Assembly budgeting process since the onset of Republican John Kasich becoming governor in 2010 has devastated local government finances in dramatically reducing the state's share of funding local governments.

Only the SCPR as Stark County-based media names names of the perpetrators of the fiscal hard times that Ohio state government has visited on local governments.

For Stark County, those names have been and continue to be Scott Oelslager (R, Ohio Senate District 29), Kirk Schuring (R, Ohio House District 48) and Christina Hagan (R, Ohio House District 50).

Ohio's core cities are bearing the brunt of what seems to be a war by a largely rural/suburban-based Republican supermajority controlling Ohio's legislature.

Recently, North Canton mayor David Held (a Republican) complained at a recent North Canton council meeting about an impending adverse to Ohio cities legislation by the Republican dominated Ohio General Assembly.



Canton's treasurer (Kim Perez) recently sent this letter to Senator Oelslager.



So Ohio's war on cities seems to be continuing unabated.

It seems to the SCPR that notwithstanding Mayor Tom Bernabei's effort to "stop the bleeding," the city's employee compensation factor has gotten out-of-control (not only with Healy, but with mostly Republican administrations going back a number of mayors) that it will take his four full years plus to get Canton onto a financial sustainable path.

Bleak financial conditions do not happen on their own.

Causative factors should be and can be assigned to particular persons making decisions government and voters need to take note of the names and hold these "real" person officials accountable by thinking two, three times about returning them to office.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE? BERNABEI FILING SINKS HEALY MAYORALTY?

Sitting Stark County Commissioner Thomas Bernabei was clearly anguished yesterday that "the drop dead date" for filing his candidacy as an "independent" candidate for mayor of Canton came - as a matter of election law - one day before the Democratic/Republican Party primary election day.

It is apparent to The Stark County Political Report that Bernabei gave the go ahead after much agonizing.

The Report has learned that one circulator was collecting signatures as late as 10:00 p.m. on Sunday night.

But in the end Bernabei's filing yesterday may have the effect today of an explosive torpedo of obliterating the Mayor William J. Healy, II candidacy for a third term.

And some Cantonians are unabashedly salivating over the prospect of a Healy loss.

Until yesterday's "May surprise," the SCPR's best guess was that Healy would win a relatively close race against Canton city treasurer Kim Perez mainly because of his gigantic financial resource (about 4 to 1) advantage.

From Healy's perspective, it is likely he's thinking that Bernabei waited until the filing deadline of May 4th to do his political bombshelling in order to maximize the effect.

The SCPR does not buy that line of thinking.

The Report believes Commissioner Bernabei in his saying to the SCPR that he did not want what he may or may not do yesterday to have any effect whatsoever on today's election.

He simply had no choice.  The law of Ohio set yesterday as the final filing date.  And, The Report believes, there were many Cantonians who bought into this SCPR blog message of April 16th and communicated same to one Thomas Bernabei:

It seems that Bernabei was simply responding to the call for an alternative.

Accordingly, if Healy loses and if there is a general recognition that the Cinco de Mayo (more or less) surprise was the precipitating factor, it is the SCPR's take that such was not Bernabei's intention but rather unhappily for Mayor Healy "collateral damage" given the time constraints within which Bernabei had to act or forever hold his peace.

It will be interesting to see on Wednesday (the day that Bernabei says he will speak in more specificity to the media) this candidate's take on the effect of his politically stunning action of May 4th should Healy lose today.

And, of course, he will have to answer questions about his legal eligibility to run for mayor of Canton as an independent given his strong, strong historical ties to the Stark County Democratic Party including his until the past week being part of the Stark County Democratic Party Central Committee.

If that were not enough, there is a question about his residency.  As a Hills and Dales resident until very recently, he will in the words of national political figure Sarah Palin (undoubtedly one of Bernabei's favorites) "a lot of explainin' to do."

The "explainin' to do" has to do with "will his vote today" qualify to be counted and, if so, whom did he vote for in the mayor's race today ?

If Healy wins, then its political "game on" and you can bet your bottom dollar that Healy will unleash six years of pent up fury at having had his ego battered while Bernabei was his service director/chief of staff (January, 2008 through January, 2009).

Moreover, Healy with his Ohio Democratic Party connection (Chairman David Pepper contributed to his campaign), winner or not,  (perhaps in a joint effort with Perez; should he be the winner will surely roll out the legal fire power of the Ohio Dems to challenge Bernabei on multiple (i.e. his eligibility to run as an independent; his residence eligibility to run at all) fronts.

While Bernabei has not been public in his expressed disdain and disgust with the multiple Healy teflon-esque screwups over his nearly eight years as mayor, there is no doubt that tales of same have made their way back to the mayor and he has been biding his time to square things up.

Should he survive today, the time has arrived!

The rallying cry of the Healy campaign?

Since the inception (March 12, 2008) of The Stark County Political Report it has been "let the good times roll" insofar as there being politically delicious material for readers of The Report to feast on.

With this controversy and the Cicchinelli (also likely to be challenged on his eligibility to run as an independent because of long and strong ties to the Stark County Democratic Party) one, it appears that the rich content of Stark County Political Report blogs have no end in sight.

OH! HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN FROM "BACK IN THE DAY?"

Circa 2006, 2007, & 2008, former Stark County state representative Johnnie A. Maier, Jr was "at the top" of his political game.

During his stint as Stark Dems chairman (2003 through 2009), the Dems managed to capture every Stark County-wide (non-judicial) elected office.

He must have had a premonition that "all Hell was going to break loose" as he resigned as party chairman and left his successor and prime member of his personal political loyalty group; namely, Randy Gonzalez, to "pick up the pieces" as what local civic activist Craig T. Conley termed as being Zeiglergate broke loose on April 1, 2009.

Since then:

• Zeigler resigned/retired in an agreement with Stark County commissioners on October 19, 2011, 
• In 2012 Republican Richard Regula (in a major political surprise defeated by Democrat Todd Bosley in 2006) reclaimed his commissionership in replacing Democrat Pete Ferguson (elected in 2008 but who decided not to seek reelection)
• In 2010, Republican Janet Creighton easily defeated Maier/Gonzalez political confidant Steven Meeks (appointed by the Dems in 2007 to replace Tom Harmon [resigned in 2009]),
• In 2010, Bosley
• who along with Harmon [appointed by the Dems to replace Strickland administration appointee [lottery commission] and therefore former commissioner Gayle Jackson [2007],
• voted in December, 2008 to "impose" a 1/2 cent sales tax on Stark Coutians,
• and, therefore, apparently concluding that he could not win reelection as commissioner instead ran for state representative, the 50th District, a suffered a massive political defeat
• In 2010, Democrat Stark County auditor who was apparently thought by Stark County voters to be too politically close to Zeigler and did not do enough to raise alarms that "all may not be well" in the Stark County treasury headed by Zeigler, lost in convincing fashion to Republican Alan Harold,

So there you have "a thumbnail sketch" of how the Stark County political empire that Johnnie A. Maier, Jr had worked so hard to create had come crashing down.

Maier got his start back in 1988 when he had the good fortune "be in the right place, at the right time."  Stalwart Republican icon "Red" Ash (the, at the time, 49th House District, which became the 56th and then the 50th) had run into legal troubles and Maier was there "to pick up the pieces."

Over his years of chairman and a Massillon clerk of courts, Maier worked equally hard - if not more so - to develop a cult-like following of his personal political aspirations, to wit:

He had come home (Massillon area) from "the high reaches" of Columbus where he fraternized with the all-powerful Vern Riffe, Jr. (Speaker of the House 1975 - 1995) and learned "the art of cultivating and mastering" political power.

Many think Riffe used political power for the public good whereas there are those who think that student Johnnie, Jr applies it to his personal interests.

One of the devices of governance that the Republicans used in 1992 to wrest power from te Democrats was to support voter passage of term limits in Ohio.

Under the term limits legislation, representatives were limited to eight (8) consecutive years in office.

Accordingly, Maier, Jr had to find a more secure and nesting place and in a show of what was to come from this disciple of Vern Riffe, he put a political power move on fellow Democrat Edward L. Radel, Jr and ousted him as clerk of Massillon Municipal Court earlier in 1999.

Maier went on to defeat Republican Richard Reichel by an overwhelming majority in 1999 general election.

All of the foregoing is to demonstrate that Maier is now "on life support" to salvage what remains of his Stark County based political empire.

And that, folks, is his "all-out, all consuming" effort to get his brother George (who he likely got Ted Strickland to appoint as assistant director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety) elected as Stark County sheriff.

A victim of the Maier obsession with getting his brother elected may be "top-gun" prosecutor Chryssa Hartnett.

Chryssa works for Stark County prosecutor John Ferrero (who along with former sheriff Tim Swanson have worked against George becoming sheriff, appointed and/or elected).

The SCPR believes that the Maiers are soaking up nearly all the financial resources that Stark Dems can raise and that Hartnett may not be able to garner enough campaign funds to get her message out to the Stark County voting public that she is - so the SCPR thinks - is vastly more qualified to be judge of the Stark County Court of Common Pleas that Republican Curtis Werren.

Before being appointed by Republican governor John Kasich to a court vacancy,  Werren was president of the Stark County chapter of the American Red Cross.

Republican Larry Dordea who ran a, more or less, "gentlemens' campaign" when he ran in 2008 against incumbent sheriff Tim Swanson (who is now on the outs with the Maiers), is now in, what he says (as interpreted by the SCPR) is - to be kind to the Maiers, not that they deserve it - a "political hardball" fight in its harshest form with George (Link to blog detailing Dordea's accusations, implied and otherwise).

But Dordea needs to understand, this may be Johnnie's "Custer's Last Stand."  That is to say, electing George sheriff.

For next year, it might be that his political creation Kathy Catazaro-Perry, mayor of Massillon, whose election in 2011 Maier engineered over long time Maier political foe and two decades plus mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr, will be defeated for a second term if she chooses to run.

Even with Catazaro-Perry's election in 2011, Maier showed he was slipping in that, while he was focusing on Catazaro-Perry's mayoralty quest, the Democrats lost control of Massillon City Council.

For those who do not know, Massillon is staunchly Democratic.

Not to be forgotten is Maier's "all-out" sponsorship of Celeste DeHoff for state representative in his, more or less, old District.

He prevailed on then Governor Ted Strickland (who, recognized Johnnie to be the first county chairman to endorse him in the Democratic primary), former U.S. Senator John Glenn, Senator Sherrod Brown, and then-Ohio treasurer Richard Cordray to come to Canal Fulton to campaign for DeHoff.

Since then, DeHoff has fallen on hard times.

But she was and out-and-out Maier loyalist.  And that appears to be all that matters to Johnnie and George.

In 2012, perhaps, Johnnie's closest political ally; namely, Judge Edward Elum of the Massillon Municipal Court was disciplined by the Ohio Supreme Court.

In a rare display of Johnnie A. Maier, Jr loyalty to anyone other than himself, so the SCPR thinks, he did submit a letter in support of Elum's quest to avoid discipline by the high court.

The SCPR thinks Dordea may have seen nothing yet compared to "what is yet to come."

When the political end comes for Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., he will go down - not in a whimper - but in a thunderous crash.

There will be great wailing and gnashing of teeth with Maier, Jr and his cult of followers.

But Maier's political demise might not be yet.

It all depends on the November 4, 2014 outcome between brother George and Dordea.

That's "how high the stakes are" in this election!

VIDEO - "NEW" SCPR FEATURE "POLITICO-TOONS;" FIRST UP: PEREZ V. HEALY, VOL 1

The coming of Labor Day on Monday marks the coming of "the politico season."

From here on out, Stark Countians will be subjected to political ads galore.

Most of ads are pretty boring.

So The Stark County Political Report adds a new feature today to "spice things up a bit."

Between now and election day for sure, and, perhaps, beyond, the SCPR will be putting together what The Report is calling "politico-toons" which, hopefully, will be laced with parody, satire and sarcasm that makes readers smile or nod in agreement that a telling point on/about the subjects of a given "politico-toon" has been made.

As the SCPR has been predicting he would do in blogs for some time now, former Stark County auditor Kim Perez has taken out petitions to run for mayor of Canton.

• http://starkpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2014/05/kim-perez-gearing-up-to-run-for-mayor.html
• http://starkpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2014/08/first-installment-scpr-politicalgovt.html 

Enjoy!

(VIDEOS) FIRST INSTALLMENT: SCPR "POLITICAL/GOV'T BIOGRAPHY SERIES" CANTON CITY TREASURER KIM PEREZ INCLUDING COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS

A LIFE OF PREPARATION

TO 

ONE DAY

BECOME

MAYOR OF CANTON?

VIDEOS

THE EARLY YEARS

(Councilman & Republic Steel Employee)

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

AS CANTON AUDITOR

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

AS COUNTY AUDITOR

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

AS CANTON TREASURER

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

 "NEW" POLICY ISSUE

(Tying Paying Taxes to Getting Canton Business) 

 

Today, The Stark County Political Report launches its Stark County public official/political figure "video blog" series with Canton treasurer Kim Perez.

In interviewing Perez (some of the discussion referred to did not take place on camera), the SCPR's overall take is that he is still smarting from the cascade of events that took place during what local civic activist and attorney Craig T. Conley has termed as being Zeiglergate (April 1, 2009 through October 19 2011), part of which period Perez served as Stark County auditor, and which (i.e. the cascade of events) most Stark County political observers think resulted in Perez being defeated in his 2010 reelection try.

Perez thinks he was unfairly criticized by local media (including the Stark County Political Report) for his not having done enough to alert local and Ohio officials that something was amiss in the county treasurer's office.

He is particularly hard on The Canton Repository.

The Report reminded Perez that it has always been a policy of the SCPR to place "unedited" e-mails, letters or on camera interviews at the top of any blog which critiques a Stark County government/political figure.

His response?

"That's not how I operate."

Okay, but with that continuing offer always being on the table by the SCPR, how can any subject of the SCPR complain about unfairness?

And to his credit, Perez did not dispute with The Report that he knew that he had ample opportunity on this blog to respond.

Subjects of Repository stories certainly do not get that opportunity.

Accordingly, The Report has seen many instances where the "powers that be" or "powers that 'have been'" at The Rep. have been unfair and The Report thinks the folks of 500 Market Avenue, South consequently have served Stark Countians very poorly.

Perez is a good starting point for this series inasmuch as he has been active in Canton/Stark County politics and government since the mid-1980s.

At the end of each and every biography blog, the SCPR will post the entire video - unedited - for readers of The Report to measure Martin Olson's running commentary on segments of the video.

KIM PEREZ

THE EARLY YEARS 

"A Young Turk?"

With the election of Kevin Fisher (D, Ward 5), John Mariol (D, Ward 7), Edmond Mack (D, Ward 8) and Frank Morris, III (D, Ward 9) in 2011, it was obvious from the get-go that Canton City Council had been - with their election - infused with a stout shot of civic/political energy.

Over time, the SCPR picked up on the significance of the election of the four young (except, maybe, for Morris) and tabbed them as being the "four young Turks" of Canton City Council.

Probably more than any other characterization that the SCPR has done of Stark County officials/public figures, the "four young Turks" has been the one which readers of The Report have latched onto as being their favorite.

The characterization resonated with Kim Perez as evidenced by this first video snippet from yesterday's interview.

Perez goes back to 1985, perhaps 1983 as the date he first got involved in Canton/Stark County politics as a Democrat.

It was 1988 before he was elected as Ward 1 councilman (then encompassing "downtown Canton") in which position he served for 6-1/2 years.

As a part time councilman (working full time, contemporaneously, at Republic Steel as a transportation supervisor) he says:

• He was part of the founding group of Canton Tomorrow as one of several responses to the beginnings (from his perspective) of the deterioration of downtown Canton,
• He identifies himself, current Councilman at Large Bill Smuckler and former Councilwoman at Large Mary Cirelli among others was being the 1980s/early 1990s equivalent of the SCPR's "four young Turks,"
• SCPR note:  It is a political irony that Cirelli decided to take on Perez when he ran for Canton treasurer in 2013,

1994 - PEREZ AS CANTON'S AUDITOR 

Highly respected Canton City auditor R.A. Mallon (the father of the current Canton auditor) died in 1994.

As Kim Perez tells it, nobody thought 20 years ago that he could best Don Casar (retired from council in December, 2009) to become the senior Mallonn's successor.  Roy Gutierrez was party chairman.

The vote was 22 to 22 in a meeting of Canton Dems precinct committeepersons at Canton Council Chambers.  However, there was one vote on the way.  That precinct committeeperson was in ill health had was delayed in getting to the meeting.  But when he did arrive, the vote was for Kim Perez, and as the saying goes, the rest is history.

By his account, being selected as city auditor was the beginning of Perez's romance as a government administrator with computer technology.

2004 - PEREZ  AS COUNTY AUDITOR

On January 1, 2004 current Stark County commissioner Janet Weir Crieghton (a
Republican) was elected mayor of Canton over the-then former Canton city councilman Bill Smuckler.

Her election as mayor left the county auditor's position empty inasmuch as Creighton had been auditor before her defeating Smuckler in November, 2013.

Stark's Republicans appointed Brant Luther (then her chief deputy) as her replacement.

The Republicans had held the auditor's office for years and years and at that time the office had quite a few political patronage jobs to hand out.

The Report remembers (harkening back to the pre-SCPR days) that the Democrats were hot-to-trot to capture the county auditor's office.

The then-chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr was salivating over the possibility of the Democrats ousting Luther.

There was talk of the-then county commissioner Gayle Jackson (who Maier calls the best Stark County commissioner of all time) running for auditor.

But Gayle was way too protective of her position in county government to chance a loss to Luther.

Undoubtedly, Maier (then party chairman), would have pulled out all the stops for Jackson had she wanted to take the political risk.

Perez had been Canton auditor upward of 10 years by 2014 and therefore it was natural that the Democrats should turn to him to run against Luther.

The Report recalls (again, reminiscing about the pre-SCPR days) how Maier, Jr complained about how lazy Perez was in the conduct of his campaign.

What Maier, Jr was missing in criticizing Perez was that in 2004 the Perez name in Stark County was one of most powerful political name in the county.

Kim, with his political base in highly Democratic Canton, and with brother Rick being one of the high profile leaders in the Stark County sheriff's department under then sheriff Tim Swanson; it should have surprised nobody that Kim pulled what the SCPR terms as being at least - a mild, if not greater - upset of the auditor's office entrenched Republicans.

In hindsight, the SCPR thinks - had she run - Jackson would have lost to Luther.

The Report's interview was focused on the Perez county auditor years (2004 through 2011) not on that part of his term coined by Conley to have been the years of Zeiglergate.

As indicated in the video below on the county auditor years, the SCPR will sit down with Perez again to spend another hour going over the details of those years.  And that interview will be made part of the his Kim R. Perez biography blog.

On a positive note, for his 2004 through 2011 years, Perez again focuses on his having fixed on incorporating computer and digital technology in to the operation of the county auditor's office, to wit:

• The reduction of scattered and fragmented computer/technology in what existed in county computer infrastructure into a more centralized and therefore more efficient and money savings to the taxpayers system, and
• The sophistication of and refinement of GIS (Graphical Information System).

A poignant moment in the interview occurred when Perez took a moment to reflect on his 2010 loss of the county auditor's office to Republican Alan Harold.

Perez claims to harbor no ill feeling towards Harold and cites situations wherein he has - since the losing campaign - worked collaboratively with the county auditor's office.
However, to the SCPR it is unmistakable that he still carries memories of the campaign.

Especially a billboard ad which shows Perez to be a member of a golfing group which included then-Stark County treasurer Gary Zeigler in a "for charity" golfing event.

There is no doubt about it, the 2010 Perez/Harold face off was an "in your face" political hardball effort by Harold.

Perez termed the loss as being "a perfect storm" (or "the stars aligning") having in mind, undoubtedly, Zeiglergate and 2010 being a Republican year across Ohio (e.g. Richard Cordray losing his office of attorney general to former U.S. Senator Mike DeWine).

And, of course, but for the godsend of a independent (to the political right) candidate running for commissioner,  Democrat Tom Bernabei would never had won a commissioner's seat.

On another note, off camera, Perez talked about how The Rep. has worked him over on political patronage over the years he was county auditor.

He thinks he has been singled out on this score and that a different standard is being applied to his successor Alan Harold.

Perez cites the recent hire (August 4, 2014) of a chief information officer and administrator in the information technology office of the county auditor's office as, perhaps, being unnecessary.

Perez praises Anita Henderson (who worked for Perez when he was Canton auditor) as being the county's top notch government employed information technology person.

He suggests that the August 4th hire has close political or personal ties to Harold. 

It is interesting to note that the hire (Seth Peterson) is being paid nearly $32,000 more annually than Henderson and she has been employed in Stark Canton/Canton computer technology for 27 years.

The SCPR asks:  Why couldn't Henderson be promoted to the newly created job?

It will be interesting to hear Harold's response to the Perez's intimation, no?

Moreover, Perez alluded to, in Wednesday's interview, Harold's addition of two information technology employees at a total - just annual salary cost - a little over $96,000 annually.

Hardly sounds like Perez has gotten over his loss to Harold, no?

However, he does ask some pretty pointed questions.

The Report believes that Perez has been no worse than Harold (see Conde blog) and many other Stark County based elected officials on the patronage thing.

But to the SCPR for any elected official to hand out taxpayer supported jobs without first inviting the public to apply is unacceptable, be it Perez or any other elected official.

Again, off camera, The Report ticked off the names Fisher (Kevin Fisher, now Ward 5 Canton city councilman), Jimmy Babcock (now Canton councilman-at-large) as persons he seems hired to hired on the basis of them having political connections.

Another person who now comes to mind is David Maley (now with Massillon's Catazaro-Perry administration).

Perez seemed to want to assign political patronage justification to the "everybody does it" category or by diverting attention to the Republicans or to The Repository's imbalanced attacks on him.

That does not work with the SCPR and The Report has no sympathy with him that The Rep may have singled him out.

Of course, the SCPR excoriates every Stark County officeholder (Republicans and Democrats with equal zeal) on this issue. The Report thinks that "political connectedness hirings" short-circuit everyday Stark Countians of the opportunity to get public employment.

Depriving taxpaying Stark County employment opportunities needs to stop for every Stark County official, including Kim Perez.

By not advertising and thereby getting a field of candidates to consider, a public official misses out on some exceptionally well qualified candidates that would serve the public and the officeholder quite well - if - given a chance.

In this video, Perez talks about his county auditor years.



2013 -  ELECTED CANTON TREASURER

Having been Canton auditor and Stark County auditor in the wake of the political sunami of 2010, Perez, on his own judgment and on the advice of family and friends, does the obvious and runs for Canton treasurer in light of the announcement by long time treasurer Robert Schriak that he would not seek reelection in 2013.

Lo and behold!  Who should be one of his opponents but former "young-Turk-esque" council ally of yesteryear (1980s/1990s) Mary Cirelli.

As it turns out Cirelli came in third in a field of three which surprised the political pundits.

Of course, as the victor, Perez predictably in the interview took the high road and said that he did not take it personal that Cirelli challenged him.

Though he denies it, the SCPR believes that he is not so magnanimous with the likes of Republicans Alan Harold, Janet Creighton and others.  Moreover, the SCPR suspects he harbors dislike for Democrat Johnnie A. Maier, Jr whom he opposed for the party chairmanship in 2003 when Chairman John Ferrero resigned on becoming Stark County prosecutor.

In discussing his running for and being elected Canton treasurer the conversation seemed to migrate to his becoming a rather active treasurer (not simply the city's income tax collector) as a prelude - the SCPR thinks - to running in the May, 2015 Democratic primary against sitting Democratic mayor William J. Healy, II.

As this part of the video shows, in his less than a year as Canton treasurer, Perez (uncharacteristic of what the SCPR thinks one would expect of a city treasurer) has:

• raised the issue of Stark County's Ohio General Assembly standing idly by as the State of Ohio devastates local government in taking away various state level funding of local government,
• raised the issue of Canton having reduced (at the initiative of the Healy administration) the credit that Cantonians who work out-of-town on their Canton income tax obligation from a full 2% to 1.7%,
• SCPR Note:  Canton council passed legislation to restore the full 2% credit but the measure was vetoed by Mayor Healy
• raised the issue of Canton devoting more resources and leverage (i.e. if you want get city business, you companies better have paid or be up-to-date with your city income taxes [a criticism of Healy for not using this leverage?]) to collect sorely needed delinquent income taxes,
• raised the issue of Canton capital funds (a criticism of Healy, maybe?) being used to fund city operations

The Report thinks Perez is being coy in how he handles questions as whether or not his uncharacteristic activity as treasurer is clear indication that will take on Mayor Healy.  Bill Smuckler has already told the SCPR that he will not run, if there is more than one opposing candidate in the field.

Apparently, all Perez has to do is to let it be known that he is running for mayor.  And, it could be that such is exactly what he is telling Canton politicos privately.

Feedback that the SCPR gets from "in the know" Canton politicians point in that direction.

In the following video, Perez - in mostly a forward look - addresses being city of Canton auditor.



THE PEREZ DELINQUENT TAXPAYER PLAN

It was difficult to get Treasurer Perez on topic with respect to the "let's tie doing business with Canton with having paid taxes."

He wanted to talk ad nauseam about the income tax credit issue.

Finally, the SCPR was able to get him on topic.

While the SCPR fully supports Perez's tie-in, it would be incredibly naive to think that his being an evangelistic Canton treasurer does not have its roots of his setting himself up to run for mayor.



Kim Perez does like to present himself as a kind of political innocent that things (bad, but mostly good) just happen to.

Far be it from that.

Kim Perez is one of Stark County's most sophisticated politicians who nearly survived the disaster election of 2010.

If he decides to take on Mayor William J. Healy, II in the May, 2015 Democratic primary, the SCPR thinks that he will come out the winner.

Moreover, if the mayor's political calculus tells him he would lose such a match up, look for him to move on to something else rather than absorb political humiliation at the hand of a fellow Democrat.

SCPR APPENDIX

FULL "UNEDITED" KIM PEREZ VIDEO

LOCAL OFFICIALS (VIDEOS) ARE A "LOT OF HOT AIR" WHEN IT COMES TO STATE FUNDING OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT?

As early as December 20, 2010  the Stark County Political Report began writing about the draconian state funding cuts that were coming to local government (villages, cities and townships) in the wake of Republican John Kasich's election as governor in November.

And such talk was not just "whistling Dixie" on a dark, scary night to comfort oneself in the face of feared disaster.

The fact of the matter is that the Kasich administration has done what it was feared it would do on taking office on January 1, 2011.

As an Ohio political subdivision and one of the state's larger counties, Stark has absorbed the full brunt of the cuts which over the entire state has turned into a $575 million in cuts whereas Ohio now has several billions in surpluses in its "rainy day fund."

What the SCPR notes is that a few of Stark County's local government officials have struck out at state officials but that they for the most part are out-of-power-at-the-state-level Democrats.

A recent new entrant into the jawboning has been Democratic Canton city treasurer Kim Perez, who, the SCPR thinks is fixing to run against Canton mayor William J. Healy, II come next year's Democrat primary election (May, 2015).

The SCPR thinks Perez may be "more of the same" in terms of local officials (again, emphasizing mostly Democratic ones) whining about the state cuts in a grandstanding fashion and not doing anything about it.

In the following video of Perez at Canton's June 2, 2014 meeting of city council, he talks about "new" potential devastation to Canton and other Stark County and Ohio cities at the hand of proposed Amended Senate Bill 5 and of his effort to bring all of Stark County officialdom together in united action in bringing pressure to bear on the Ohio General Assembly and, of course, Stark Countians Oelslager, Hagan, Schuring and Slesnick.



As The Report wrote in October,2012 right before the 2012 general election:

The SCPR projects that Stephen Slesnick (Democrat - Canton, the 49th), Kirk Schuring (Republican - Jackson Township, the 48th) and Christina Hagan (Republican - the 50th) will win re-election next month by fairly comfortable margins.  And The Report is ready to project that the Stark County Democratic Party chairman Randy Gonzalez (who, as Jackson Township fiscal officer, 9-1-1 governance committee chairman and Canton Municipal Court employee frequently complains about the drop off  of funding of local governments) will offer up a "sacrificial lamb" in opposition to Scott Oelslager two years hence when he seeks re-election.

In re-electing this Stark County legislative foursome, the message they receive is a loud and clear:  your seat is safe and secure no matter that you have done nothing to stop the carnage of Ohio's Local Government Fund funding of Stark County's cities, villages and townships.

To add insult to injury, beginning January 1st, there will be no more revenues from what used to be Ohio's estate tax.

And there are other legislative initiatives and failures to hold harmless that the four have participated in to one degree or another.

The SCPR really has no sympathy at all for local officials and their complaints about what Governor Kasich and the Ohio General Assembly is doing to them and to Stark County taxpayers.

Who among them has organized any pressure on the re-elective future of any of the four?

Answer:  none!

All they do is whine.

And when any one of the four shows up in local government venues, they are likely to be treated as if they are political royalty.  Kissing up to those who are hurting you seems to be the standard protocol most local government types dish out notwithstanding the financial grief that none of the four has done anything to stop.

Not that the four should be treated uncivilly, but they should receive a barrage of criticism and they should be subject to meaningful and threatening to their political longevity opposition as the come up for re-election.

The SCPR's take is that local officials really do not care so long as they can convince locals to ante up with local tax increases.

 And what has changed as we approach the 2014 general election?

Exactly nothing!

As a parting reminder that he is Stark County's "whiner-in-chief," recently retired Canton Municipal Court chief deputy and former (as of June 5, 2014) Stark County Democratic Party chairman Randy Gonzalez has offered up a bevy of sacrificial lambs to the Republican side of the Stark County delegation in this fall's election and, in the case of his seeming "best - political - friend" J. Kirk Schuring:  nobody!"

Democratic Canton City Council president Allen Schulman is one of the foremost critics of the Kasich administration and members of the Stark County delegation of the Ohio General Assembly; namely,

• Republican Scott Oelslager of Plain township representing the 29th Ohio Senate District which includes most of Stark County
• Republican J. Kirk Schuring of Jackson Township representing the 48th Ohio House District,
• Democrat Stephen Slesnik of Canton representing the 49th Ohio House District, and
• Republican Christina Hagan of Marlboro Township representing the 50th House District

because they have done absolutely nothing to curb the $575 million in cuts despite pleas that they do so from area "mostly Democratic" local officials.

Here is a April, 2013 Schulman "rant" about the legislators.



As a consequence of the political impunity with which the Stark County delegation has failed to act to stop the financial bloodletting on local government funds, local voters have been asked (with varying degrees of success/failure) to make up for the cuts.

Accordingly, the recent outcries by Perez, Schulman, Healy and a few other outlier Democrat officials and a few whimpers by a scant few of Republican officials should be scoffed at by Stark Countians.

As far as the SCPR can tell, the protestations are all mouth.

As long as local officials can get the voters of Stark's cities, villages and townships (as, of course, school districts) to ante up new local revenues, all we will get from local officials is political rhetoric.

It could be that as voters consider new income tax increase requests and/or income tax credit reductions and the like (e.g. Alliance, Canton, Massillon and North Canton) and should they reject them, the seriousness and the authenticity of the clamor by "state cut" complaining Stark officials might actually bear fruit in terms of putting Oelslager, Hagan, Schuring and Slesnick on the "hot seat."

And, perhaps, Stark County voters ought to reject any and all new revenue requests so as to give local officials no other choice than to push back and push back hard on state government through the locals who we send to Columbus.

KIM PEREZ GEARING UP TO RUN FOR MAYOR OF CANTON?

 

 UPDATED AT 8:52 AM

Once upon a time Kim Perez was one of if not THE VERY BEST Democratic vote getters in Stark County.  He has been particularly effective in garnering city of Canton votes in his races for various offices over the years including his recent (2013) win as Canton treasurer.

His 2010 Stark County auditor race loss to Republican Alan Harold (under special circumstances, see explanation below) had to be devastating to him.

An astonishing thing about Perez is how many Stark County Republican politicos there are who cotton to him personality-wise.   The Report thinks that he successfully projects an "aw-shucks, who me?" persona that sucks even political sophisticates into believing that he is a politically uncalculating elected official who is more or less uninterested in hard-core Democratic politics.

In that regard he has an almost Gomer Pyle innocence quality to him.

But make no mistake about it, Perez is not a Gomer Pyle "Oh, Golly Gee" rube.

Perez, a cousin to Stark County Democratic chairman Randy Gonzalez, can and does work political sophistication one-step-up from his political peers.  Had he not got caught up in the web of Conley's Zeiglergate tag line because of his deep and lengthy political camaraderie with Zeigler, he would have beat back Alan Harold's challenge with ease.

He - the SCPR evaluates - buys into  Democratic Party political rhetoric and indeed becomes the Stark County spokesman for Democratic Party "talking points" from his "aw-shucks" demeanor at the "flip of a - political - switch."

His 2013 bounce-back might mean that he has pulled off a Bill Clintonesque (1992 presidential primary campaign) Comeback Kid caper and has earned the right to be viewed as Stark County's Comeback Kid.

And if the 2013 results are indicative of renewed political vigor and effectiveness, Mayor William J. Healy, II might be a Perez target in the Democratic primary for mayor that comes up in less than a year from the date of this blog.

Since being elected treasurer, it is the SCPR's take that Perez has ramped up his political activity (speaking out on policy issues [e.g. ending reduction in city income tax credit for Cantonians working out-of-town] and The Report believes the step up is indicative that Perez is not content being the head of Canton's smallest (in terms of number of employees) elected office.

When the SCPR brought the matter up in a May 13th discussion with Democratic mayor William J. Healy, II, he said "he didn't know what Perez was up to" but he did indicate that he found it significant that Perez was addressing policy matters and not focusing on the treasurer's primary job of collecting the city's income tax.

Most of the focus by the SCPR has been on whether or not long term councilman (with a break for 2012 through 2013) Bill Smuckler will be running.  And he may be.  But if he does, The Report thinks he may well find Perez in the field of candidates.

Smuckler has told The Report that he is only interested in a head-to-head with Healy.  So if Perez does get in, if Smuckler does not change his mind on participating in a multi-candidate field, then Smuckler will be out.

A Perez/Healy match up would likely be a heated match up and would cut right through Canton City Council in terms of which councilpersons align with the candidates.

The Report believes that Democrat Kevin Fisher (Ward 5) and Jimmy Babcock (Democrat, at-large), both of who worked for him when he was county auditor, would support a Perez run for mayor.   Thomas West, Chris Smith and David Dougherty would likely line up with Healy.  And the rest would be prone to be neutral in terms of taking a public position.

As kind of a side note, isn't it interesting that Healy tried to make Perez's brother Rick Stark County Council on Governments (SCOG) Crime Lab director though unqualified under long established job description criteria (calling for a scientist to be in charge) which qualification Healy tried to get excised in a proposed rewrite of the job description.

Actually, the appointment was made but immediatley backed off upon when "the s_ _ t hit the fan with the likes of Healy arch-political-enemy (Healy fired in early 2009 as Canton's service director) and now Stark County commissioner Tom Bernabei who is a member of the SCOG executive committee.

Rick was a former top deputy with former Stark County sheriff Tim Swanson, who at one time designated as being Swanson's choice to succeed him until the political fallout from the Marlboro police chief Ron Devies case took hold in the Stark County policing community) .

The question is whether or not in making the attempt Healy was anticipating a possible challenge from Kim Perez and in appointing brother Rick as Crime Lab boss trying to make it difficult for Kim to take him on?

Perez started out as a Canton city councilman in 1988 (Ward 1).  Next he was in place as Canton's auditor (1994 through 2004).  And from there he defeated Republican insider and Alliance resident Brant Luther to become Stark County auditor in 2004.

Republican Janet Creighton had defeated Democrat Bill Smuckler in the 2003 Canton mayoralty race.

The Republicans appointed Luther to succeed Creighton as auditor.

The Republicans had held the auditor's office (and, at the time its many, many political patronage jobs) for years and years and years.  Creighton was auditor from 1991 through 2003.  Alliance Republican William Bowman. held the office from 1975 through 1991.  And the SCPR believes that Republican control of the office preceded Bowman.

So it was quite a big deal when Perez wrestled the office from the GOP's appointee Luther.

Just a note on Patricia Fallot (now Louisville's Republican mayor).

She is one of few Stark County politicians who has politically outmaneuvered Perez.  

But to be fair to Perez,  she used the Canton Repository's "let's give Perez special scrutiny" (as compared to, let's say, Janet Creighton) on whether or not he brings political cronies into office with him (i.e. when he defeated Luther), the SCPR thinks, as a skillful use of political leverage to retain her job has one of Auditor Perez's top employees, though a Republican.

Clearly, in the opinion of The Report,  she belonged in a category of originally gotten her job as an auditor employee primarily because of Republican political connections.

But then came 2009 and what local attorney and civic activist Craig T. Conley labeled as being Zeiglergate.

A very good resource for those readers who are not familiar with Zeiglergate, go to this LINK to get up to date on how it unfolded.  The linked article gives Perez and his political allies plenty of space to expound on their view that he was a victim of Zeiglergate as some believe Zeigler himself was.

An interesting point of the referenced link is Perez's historical vote getting power within Canton, to wit:

Traditionally, Canton has been Perez’s support base. During the 2006 election, Perez, a former city councilman and city auditor, swept Canton with huge margins. But this year [referencing Perez's losing 2010 election effort], Harold won 250 out of 364 precincts in Stark County, including 13 Canton precincts.

However, looking at the numbers in the treasurer's race, it is noteworthy that Perez was unable to garner 50% plus of the vote.

Healy did get a majority (53%) in 2011 in the general election when he defeated Republican A.R. "Chip" Conde as he did in the Democratic primary against Smuckler (55%).

To the SCPR, a successful Perez challenge to Healy would not do much for Cantonians.

The Report sees Perez being "six of one" and Healy as being "half-a-dozen of another" in terms of being consummate politicians and having among their allies highly politicized supporters.  The SCPR sees both as primarily politicians at heart in need of a taxpayer supported job.

Even so, should he run for mayor and should he win, he definitely will have validated that he has risen from the politically dead and deserving of being thought of as being Stark County's Comeback Kid!

(VIDEOS) CAN YOU FAULT AUDITOR ALAN HAROLD FOR NOT BEING WILLING TO ASSUME "FAMILY" LIABILITY RISK ON HIS HANDLING (AS PUBLIC OFFICIAL) OF STARK COUNTY'S BMV LICENSE PLATE OPERATION?

The political bitterness appears to remain with some who were part of the Kim Perez regime when the current Canton city treasurer was Stark County auditor (2005 through 2011).

In the November, 2004 Democrat Perez defeated former Stark County auditor Janet Creighton's pick (Brant Luther, current Stark County chief administrator) to succeed her as auditor.

In November 2003, Creighton (now Stark County commissioner) ran for and was elected mayor of Canton.

The Republicans had held the auditor's office under Creighton and her predecessors before Democratic interloper Perez upset Luther in 2004.

Stark County's organized Democrats were besides themselves with joy (especially, the-then chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr) when the Dems won the auditor's office which is one the of the largest offices in Stark County government and offers rich, rich opportunities for handing out political patronage jobs.

Life does not get any better for the likes of Johnnie A. Maier, Jr.

Well, unfortunately, for the Dems along came what local attorney and civic activist Craig T. Conley (a Republican) calls Zeiglergate.

Because he was perceived in the public mind as being a political "bosom-buddy" of Zeigler, Perez was one of the casualties of Zeiglergate and went down to defeat to Republican Alan Harold, Stark's current auditor.

And the Perez/Harold face-off was a bitter, bitter campaign with the highlight of Harold buying billboard space featuring a picture of Perez on an golf outing with Zeigler and former chief deputy Vince Frustaci [who was convicted in 2009 of having stolen upwards of $3 million from the county treasury).

Zeigler has never been implicated in the Frustaci theft but the SCPR believes that most Stark Countinans thought, as of the election of 2010, that he had not put effective policies, practices, programs and facility reform measures in place during his tenure as treasurer (beginning in 1999) to have, hopefully, prevented Frustaci's theft.

Coming full circle, Perez suffered electorally from a public perception that he was a "political pal" of Zeigler's.  Moreover, more than a few Stark Countians appear to believe that Perez should have spotted trouble in the county treasury (which it seems he did) and moved more aggressively than he is generally perceived to have done to bring his concerns to the attention of Stark County/State of Ohio authorities.

Ever since Perez was defeated (November, 2010), some of his former "political patronage-esque" appointees have been carping at Harold on one thing or another.

The Report thinks that the latest manifestation of "nipping at the heels" of Harold is an indication that some of Perez's lieutenants are still sore at Harold for having defeated Perez in 2010.

Notwithstanding what the SCPR believes to be a political motive, when approached by the Perez ally, The Report confronted Harold with the ally's question:  "How could Stark County auditor Harold give up on some $400,000 to $500,000 ($50,000 in net profits) in revenue to the county treasury?"

First, the background.

Yesterday, Auditor Harold was in to see the Stark County commissioners to describe and to explain his action of "abandoning" being deputy registration for the State of Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (Bureau) in what is the Bureau's largest Stark County operation.



Afterwards, the SCPR cornered Harold outside the commissioners' office and asked him to explain to Stark Countians in greater detail than he provided the commissioners.



So what is the SCPR's conclusion?

To The Report it is understandable that Harold would not want to jeopardize his personal financial security in continuing as the deputy registrar.

While Ohio statutory law does hold him as well as any other public official liable for the loss of taxpayer funds in the administration of public office,  when the Bureau insisted that his wife join him in signing off on the bond required for one to be a deputy registrar, then that was quite a different matter.

Some public officials put their major family assets in the names of the spouses so that the family will not be wiped out if that official is held liable for the misfeasance/malfeasance of an employee or for some other basis that results in a loss of taxpayer funds.

But when the spouse is compelled to join in, that is a different matter and The Report believes that Harold is fully justified in not assuming such a risk.

On the face of it, a 10%, more or less, annual profit is "nothing to sneeze at," but when one digs into the details it often proves out that the "devil - indeed - is in the details."

If The Report was in Harold's shoes, its a "no-brainer" that in no way, shape or form, should a spouse  be subjected to liability for what may occur in the public workplace.

Some folks may think that a bond protects the liable party.

But it does not.  A bond does not function like insurance.

What happens is that the insurance/bonding company who issues the bond pays legally sufficient claims made on the bond but, in turn, goes after the person(s) bonded for indemnification for the amounts so paid.

A bond is not the equivalent of an insurance policy.

And the SCPR doubts there are many Stark Countians who would risk family assets.

At the end of the day, the Perez ally, in the judgment of the SCPR, is showing political comeuppance in complaining about Harold's action.

Such is the nature of politics, no?

And it is a game played by both political parties to the detriment of the public's confidence in county government, no?

CONTINUING SERIES ON STARK CO. FINANCES: THE AUDTOR'S OFFICE - WHO AUDITS THE AUDITOR?

 UPDATED AT 2:00 PM

So far in the Stark County Political Report's comprehensive series of analyzing county officeholders' success/failure in responsibly "holding the line" in the management of "new monies" provided to county government by Stark County taxpayers in their passage of a 0.5% county sales tax in November, 20011, The Report has given the following grades:

• The county commissioners themselves, a C-,
• The Stark County recorder, a C-,
• The Stark County treasurer, a A+

Today, I deal with the Stark County auditor.

In my estimate, Alan Harold is one of the bright up and coming leaders in Stark County government.

Though he clearly wears his Republicanism "on his sleeve," I think he is one of those "make no bones about it" partisans who can work through their bias and in the end be fair and responsive to all; notwithstanding any partisan difference they may have with him.

However, though he denies it, the SCPR thinks that there must have been a political advantage factor at play in his hiring of past Canton Republican 2011 mayoral candidate A.R. "Chip" Conde as property tax supervisor in February of this year.

I have indication that when Republican Party decisions are being made, that along with Stark GOP chairman and Stark Board of Elections chief Jeff Matthews and Republican Stark County commissioner Janet Creighton; Harold is right "in the thick" of the decision making and probably is "neck-and-neck" with Creighton in terms of intra-party respected political acumen.

Jeff Matthews gets very little regard.

So how do I assess his management of his office?

The SCPR gives Stark County auditor Alan Harold a:

Contrary to what the name of this county department of government might suggest, the formal job of the county auditor's office is not to keep tabs on other Stark County departments of government.

As put by Harold himself on the auditor website, the mission of his office is:

dedicated to providing efficient and courteous service to the public while ensuring the highest possible standards for accountability, accuracy, and attention to detail in support of Stark County’s financial systems.

But you can be sure that Harold, in view of points made by him in his successful 2010 campaign to unseat Democrat Kim Perez, will "unofficially" be looking at his peers' operations (except maybe the Republicans [only kidding]) throughout county government and if he sees anything he thinks might not be "according to Hoyle," he will react in terms of the powers he has as county auditor or, alternatively, bringing the questions his has  - persistently and loudly - to the attention of federal, state/county government that he thinks has a say in what he perceives may be amiss.

He loudly and vigorously accused Perez of not being diligent and persistent enough in asking questions and making public issues out of numbers coming out of the Stark County treasurer's office (provided by Vince Frustaci) that were not matching up with the auditor's internal numbers.

Frustaci, as we all are too painfully aware of, for acts committed over the space of about a six-year span, when he was Stark's chief deputy treasurer was convicted in 2009 of having stolen upwards of $3 million of Stark County taxpayer money.

While there has never been any implication whatsoever that the-then treasurer Gary Zeigler had anything to do with the theft; Zeigler was criticized by Harold, the state of Ohio auditor, and others for not "running a tight enough ship" in terms of policies, practices, and oversight mechanisms either to deal with the possibility that an employee might try to make off with taxpayer money.

Some of Harold's county-level peers might think is he somewhat of a "busybody," I think that Stark County taxpayers should be comforted by the fact that Harold appears to be and acts in an vigilant "protect the taxpayers" manner.

However, notwithstanding my "in-general" being well-taken with Harold, I am not all that impressed with his management of his office in terms of employee turnover (eleven (11) employee departures; sixteen (16) "new" employees [in a timeframe of December 19, 2012 through September 11, 2013]).

Nor am I well taken with my suspicion that fellow Republican Conde was put "at the head of the line" at the expense, perhaps, of other "non-politically-connected Stark Countians who are entitled to an opportunity at publicly funded jobs.

The SCPR has some anecdotal indication that Harold is a highly demanding boss who can be difficult to work for.

But that might not be a bad thing from the taxpayers' standpoint.  Taxpayers want county bosses who get the "most bang for the 'wages' buck" from county employees.

That may or may not be the case for Harold.

In terms of accessibility, ability to take criticism (i.e. his political maturity), transparency and other democracy enhancing characteristics, Harold does well.

He stands "heads and shoulders" over the likes of Stark County prosecutor John Ferrero and Rick Campbell in on the political maturity factor.

On the day-to-day management of his office, according to my computations from records provided by Harold himself, he is up a net of five (5) employees in 2013 over 2012 and his payroll is up about $300,000.

My computation indicates that Harold went from 92 employees to 97 employees.

Moreover, he has more that doubled the commissioners' guideline for giving raises from revenues generated out of the 2011 sales tax passage monies.

They recommended 2% which, by and large, they met for their office.

Harold's mathematical "mean" pay raises was five percent (5 %); again, more than double what the commissioners' thought would be indicative of "holding the line" on county finances.

In all the SCPR's analyses, I think that next year's (2014) will present a clearer picture of how prudent Stark County's bosses are managing funds provided courtesy of the Stark County taxpayers.

What follows is a detailed listing of personnel factors in the auditor's office for the December, 2012 through September, 2013 time period.

Readers need to keep in mind that the wages indicated are only for that (i.e. wages).  Harold has told me that he - in general - agrees with fringe benefits (health insurance, workers' compensation, unemployment compensation and pensions) cost government employers about 35% of the wage base.

The December, 2012 payroll:

As compared to the September, 2013 payroll: