The Ohio Supreme Court concurred with Judge Charles Hague’s complaint against the Ashtabula County Commissioners and ordered the board to fund the Youth Detention Center and his Juvenile and Probate courts at the level set in June.

As a result, the cash-strapped county immediately must come up with nearly $110,000.

“We’re obligated to follow the law,” Board President Peggy Carlo said. “I have (Jim) Hardin and (Janet) Discher reviewing every account possible to see where the money will come from.” Hardin is county budget director and Discher is county administrator.

“In our situation, it is an astronomical amount,” Carlo said of the $109,380.20 the county must come up with. “We have to look and see what else we can cut.” She said at the very least, the ruling will mean the county will enter 2010 with a smaller carryover than what commissioners had planned.

Hague’s complaint requested $172,680 from commissioners, however that included the $63,000 in revenue Hague’s courts contribute to the general fund.

The judge said Monday that he is “very relieved” to have the issue behind him and has started the process of re-opening the YDC and calling back/re-instating to full-time status employees of his courts.

Hague said the YDC, which has been closed since Sept. 30, will re-open in two weeks. The center will operate at the same level it did when Hague closed it due to a lack of funding — 12 beds. Hague said he won’t have any problem filling it.

“If we open Dec. 7, we will be full by Dec. 7,” said Hague’s court administrator, Kathy Thompson.

Hague also plans to call back three clerks, three probation officers, a part-time magistrate and surveillance officer in his courts.

The ruling, which came down Friday, stems from a complaint Hague filed with the court in early September. The judge and commissioners have been at odds over his budget since Hague journalized it late last year and commissioners proceeded to trim it. They reached an agreement June 11, that would have restored a portion of the funding that commissioners cut because of decreased county revenues.

In July, when it became evident county revenues were continuing their free-fall, commissioners once again cut appropriations, including those to Juvenile and Probate budgets. Hague responded by filing his complaint and, a month later, closing the YDC.

Commissioners must provide Hague with the money that would have been required to operate during the period it was closed. Hague said he fully expects to have a carryover and “we’re not going to go out and spend it.”

Hague’s YDC budget still had a sizable balance as of last week. Commissioners approved the transfer of the remaining amount in his budget, $155,000, so bills could be paid. Only two YDC staff members have been working during the shut-down.

The county will also have to come up with the legal fees incurred by Hague and the commissioners, an amount that is unknown at this time. Hague places the blame for those expenses on the commissioners.

“I believe the commissioners have to justify that,” Hague said. “They reached an agreement with me that cost them nothing with legal fees. They reneged on that agreement and forced me to go into (the Ohio Supreme Court) to force them to give (Hague’s) court what they should have known all along that they were going to have to do.”

Carlo said she’s “never in favor of hiring attorneys because it reduces the pot (of money)” and felt the legal action was not the best solution.

“It doesn’t really benefit the local citizens,” she said.

As for what the action will mean for next year’s budget process, Carlo said she’s still optimistic commissioners can work with all department heads and elected officials to work within the reduced revenues commissioners are projecting.

“I don’t know where the county can reduce (spending) any more,” she said.

Commissioners Daniel Claypool and Joseph Moroski were unavailable for comment Monday.