Trumbull County commissioners confront $3.9 million shortfall; ask departments for "bare‑bones" budgets as sheriff's request looms

Trumbull County commissioners on Feb. 5 pressed county staff to narrow a roughly $3.9 million gap in the 2025 spending plan and directed general‑fund departments to return with ‘‘bare‑bones’’ budgets that cover only statutorily mandated services.

The meeting centered on rising personnel costs and one‑time revenue differences that make 2025 look worse than 2024 on paper. Auditor Mark DeGetter told the board that last year's funding picture was inflated by one‑time transfers and capital receipts—including about $2.5 million in transfers and a $2 million Clerk of Courts deposit—so staff adopted a conservative revenue estimate for 2025. "We have $14,500,000 in reserves," DeGetter said, "but we don't want to live on savings for operating expenses unless there's an emergency."

The largest single debate focused on the sheriff's budget. Staff and sheriff's office representatives ran parallel payroll models that removed overtime and then added contractual raises and other pay drivers; the no‑overtime baseline produced a sheriff payroll close to $20.5 million, and modeled overtime costs could push total staff costs toward $23 million. Commissioners warned that funding the sheriff too low would likely prompt the office to return later in the year with supplemental requests, which can create a public perception of being "over budget." One commissioner said they would not "turn around and blame" the new sheriff if mid‑year adjustments proved necessary.

To address the shortfall the board directed staff to: (1) ask general‑fund departments and elected offices to submit the lowest viable budgets that would still provide mandated services, (2) re‑examine estimated contract revenues (for school resource officers and other service contracts, which staff estimated at about $4.0 million), and (3) identify one‑time steps such as selling or liquidating underused county property. "If we want to do more than what's mandated, then we have to think about how we're going to do that," DeGetter said.

Commissioners also flagged suspicious or unclear recent pay‑grade changes at the Board of Elections, asking staff to verify whether pay increases for the director and deputy (pay grade changes shown in payroll records as effective 06/24/24) were properly approved and funded. The board asked the BOE to meet with commissioners before the larger workshop.

The commissioners set a follow‑up budget workshop to drill down with core general‑fund offices and elected officials; staff were instructed to invite the auditor, treasurer, sheriff, prosecutor, recorder, court administrators and two BOE board members to targeted sessions. The board also agreed to ask departments to identify where mandated services could be provided at lower cost and to return with more conservative budgets.

No final appropriations were adopted at the meeting. The board adjourned after recording a roll call vote in favor of the motion to end the session.

What's next: staff will circulate the list of required attendees and the board will hold a focused workshop to question department heads on concrete cut options and revenue verifications before setting the county's final appropriations.