By MARK TODD - mtodd@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon
CONNEAUT —
One day after his budget was roundly debated by Conneaut City Council, Municipal Court Judge Thomas Harris reiterated Tuesday he stands ready to discuss money matters.
“I remain open to meeting with other elected officials,” Harris said.
Municipal court money was one of a handful of topics broached by council’s finance/ordinance committee at a meeting Monday night. Prompting the session is a number of hefty expenses in 2011 that will require significant cost-cutting if extra money isn’t discovered.
At issue is the cash the city pulls from the general fund to help the court meet expenses. Last year, the city allocated $195,000 into the court accounts. By law, the city is obliged to ensure a reasonable budget for the court.
City administrators would appreciate a little help from court, council was told Monday. Where other departments aren’t filling vacancies, the court — after several months had passed — replaced a worker. City officials suggested the court could pay for that person from its discretionary funds.
Harris, on Tuesday, said that money is tucked away — in increments — to handle expenses he knows will surface in the future, such as computer software upgrades.
“There are certain expenses you know you’re going to get,” Harris said. “We’ve been setting money aside so we don’t have to borrow money.”
Administrators, along with Council President Thomas Udell and Councilman-at-large Robert Naylor, the f/o committee chairman, will meet with Harris to talk about his budget. A mediation service provided by the Ohio Supreme Court is also available.
A similar meeting will be held with Conneaut’s Board of Health, which last year accepted some $88,000 from the city. Council, at Monday’s meeting, talked about reducing that allocation for 2011.
Any reduction would work a real hardship on the health department, Commissioner Sally Kennedy said Tuesday.
“We’ve already cut back to the bare bone,” she said. “That would take some discussion.”
The health department’s revenue stream has little room for growth, council learned Monday. The health board has some say in the fees it charges for certain services but other fees are regulated by the state, members were told.
Also, council has agreed to form an ad hoc committee to examine the city’s income tax for its effectiveness. At a recent meeting, Naylor estimated 40 percent of residents are employed, and maybe half of them work out of town and so exempt from the tax.
The committee will be comprised of council members, two senior citizens, one unemployed person, someone who lives in town but works out of town and a resident who works in Conneaut, Naylor said. Appointments to the new committee will be made in a couple of weeks, he said.
Naylor said Tuesday he was pleased with Monday’s meeting. “There was a lot of good conversation and dialog,” he said.
