County projects $183 million in savings next year


The Columbus Dispatch
Aug 15, 2009
By Barbara Carmen

In a recession that has crippled state and city governments, Franklin County could end 2009 with $183 million in savings.

Commissioners will cut their spending by another $4.8 million Tuesday to keep it that way.

Budget Director Ken Wilson said they aren't just hoarding cash: They're scared the economy will continue to tank, and large expenses loom.

In the first half of 2009, sales-tax receipts and transfer fees from property sales, two of the county's largest revenue sources, plunged $5.3 million from anticipated collections.

Overall, revenue is down 1.8 percent, giving the county $2.6 million less than projected. When county officials drew up the budget in December, they estimated first-half revenue at $144.9 million. They've received $142.3 million.

But spending also is down, thanks to a fiscal prudence policy pushed by Commissioner Paula Brooks, the board's president this year.

Commissioners oversee budgets for all county offices, including courts, the sheriff's office, animal control and social services for the needy.

Departments were given $164.5 million to spend in the first half of 2009, and told only to buy what they absolutely had to have. They spent $146.4 million, tucking away $18 million to offset revenue losses.

Although first-half spending is higher than revenue, Wilson said the county will end the year bringing in more than it spends. He explained that some first-half revenue wasn't recorded until after June 30.

Overall, the county forecasts spending 0.3 percent less in 2009 than it did last year.

The $183 million in year-end savings are in two places.

The county plans to roll more than $72 million left unallocated into the budget to cover emergencies, looming purchases (such as furniture for a new courthouse) and bills that fall between the end of the 2009 and the start of the 2010 budget.

The county also maintains a $110.8 million rainy-day fund, which County Administrator Don L. Brown said is more than 30percent of its projected revenue, the standard goal for large counties to receive top financial ratings.

"Overall, Franklin County is in a sound financial position," Brown said. "Even though our revenue is lower, our spending is even less."

Tuesday, commissioners plan to eliminate funding for seven vacant positions and pare the supplies and services budget. By the end of 2009, that would be a 10 percent reduction from the amount spent on materials and services in 2008.

The $4.8 million harvested from Tuesday's cuts will be used to fund the upcoming capital-improvements budget and compensate for cuts in state funding for social services.

The capital-improvement budget, to be approved by October, will pay for needed building repairs, grounds maintenance at the justice complex and upgrades to plumbing, heating and other systems that will pay off with lower utility bills.

Commissioners voted in 2005 to increase sales taxes; they continue to collect an additional quarter-penny from each dollar of purchases made in the county. That money rebuilt the county's rainy-day fund and has made it one of the few local governments to weather the recession without forced cuts.

Former Auditor Joe Testa, a Republican, reiterated his position that the sales-tax increase was unnecessary and that the county was floating in cash that belonged in taxpayers' pockets.

"They raised their taxes early - beat the rush!" he said. "They fabricated a $54 million deficit. They even raised taxes on dogs."

The commissioners, who are all Democrats, say they acted with foresight.

"I think we still need to pull the belt in," Brooks said. "It's bad when we're celebrating lower (revenue) losses.

"But every other county in this state would love to hear this news," she said, noting their $326 million operating budget should end the year in the black. "I don't mean to brag, but it's a relief."

Not for long, Wilson warns. By 2012, the county's $72 million year-end rollover will dwindle to $4.8 million -- hardly enough to run the county for a week. If so, commissioners would have to dip into the rainy-day fund, which they have fiercely guarded.

Wilson is urging commissioners to tighten spending controls, nip discretionary purchases and continue to retrofit buildings to save on utilities.

"I'm going to do everything in my power that we don't dip into our cash reserve."

Dispatch reporter Encarnacion Pyle contributed to this story.

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Paula Brooks Seeks To Represent Ohio's 12th District in Congress



Aug 06, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Thursday, August 6, 2009 

In addition to sitting on the Franklin County Board of Commissioners, Paula Brooks has served central Ohio in multiple leadership capacities, including as an elected municipal official, on the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities, the Ohio State Bar Foundation, Action for Battered Women in Ohio, local Chamber of Commerce, and as an active Rotarian.  Paula also currently serves as First Vice President of the County Commissioners' Association of Ohio (CCAO), Vice Chair of the National Association of Counties (NACo) Energy Renewables Committee, and Vice Chair of the NACo's Arts and Culture Commission.  In 2000, Paula was a Clinton Administration appointee by the Secretary of Defense as a 3-star civilian advisor on the federal Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) where she advised the Department of Defense on troop readiness and military families. 

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CQ Ratings Change: Strong Challenger in Ohio 12


CQ Politics
Aug 05, 2009
By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

Democrats are serving notice they plan to vigorously challenge Ohio Republican Rep. Pat Tiberi next year in the Columbus-area 12th District.

Democrat Paula Brooks, an elected commissioner in the county that includes Columbus, said Wednesday that she will challenge Tiberi, who's serving his fifth term.

Brooks' challenge has prompted CQ Politics to change the initial rating of the 2010 race in Ohio's 12th to the more competitive 'Republican Favored' from 'Safe Republican.'

Brooks told The Columbus Dispatch newspaper that 'people in the district say they are disappointed in the current member and they want a fresh approach to tackling these tough problems.'

Brooks previously served on the city council of Upper Arlington, a Columbus suburb, and was first elected as a Franklin County commissioner in 2004. She was re-elected in 2008 with 63 percent of the vote.

Brooks actually lives in Ohio's 15th District, which also includes part of Columbus, and in 2007 she planned — and then nixed — a bid for the House seat that Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy eventually won. Members of Congress are not required to live in their districts.

'It's unclear who Paula Brooks is referring to when she cites ‘people in the district,' but it is clear that she's not one of them,' said Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of the House GOP. 'While Brooks was selfishly spending recent years district-shopping and worrying about her next job, central Ohio residents were losing theirs.'

Tiberi was first elected in 2000, succeeding Republican John Kasich, and has won by double-digit margins in each of his four re-election campaigns. But his vote share has declined in each of his past three races; in 2008, he won by 55 percent to 42 percent over Democrat David Robinson, who raised less than $200,000 against Tiberi's $2 million.

In the 2008 election, district voters preferred Barack Obama to John McCain by a margin of 54 percent to 44 percent.

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