Board releases more funds for sheriff
By TOM GIAMBRONILISBON - The Columbiana County Sheriff's Office is continuing to receive additional funding from county commissioners on an as-needed basis to get it through the year.
Commissioners on Wednesday transferred another $41,804 to the sheriff's office, bringing to $81,108 in total additional funding received since Sheriff Ray Stone approached the board in September, saying he needed another $150,000 before the end of the year to continue operating without cutting staff.
Stone was provided $2.3 million to operate this year, the same amount the sheriff's office spent in 2008. The budget appropriations failed to take into account $85,000 in contracted pay raises and any increases other operating expenses.
Commissioners pledged to work with Stone and other county officeholders running out of money, agreeing to transfer them additional funding as the need arises. The money to do this has come from $679,000 commissioners set aside rather than plug into the budget appropriations, and commissioners have been using it to fill funding gaps and pay unexpected bills. There is $365,901 remaining following yesterday's transfer.
Meanwhile, Stone has been transferring funds around to cover wages and benefits to where he said less than the $150,000 originally requested from commissioners will be needed.
In other action, commissioners agreed to donate a
See County, 5A
sheriff's cruiser - a 2004 Impala - to the Salineville Police Department. The cruiser was among those no longer being used.
Commissioners also signed off on more paperwork for the Glenmoor/Substation sewer project in St. Clair Township. Commissioners agreed to hire the law firm of Bricker & Eckler to serve as bond counsel to sell $3.5 million in revenue bonds that are being borrowed by the county from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help pay for the $7.7 million project.
