Published: Thursday, December 14, 2006
Judge seeks funds for juvenile court
Building families is cheaper than building prisons, the judge said.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Judge Theresa Dellick made an eloquent and impassioned plea for support of her Mahoning County Juvenile Court, and Anthony Traficanti, chairman of the Mahoning County Commissioners, said she and her staff presented "a very compelling case."
"The county's best economic policy is to decrease violent juvenile crime. So long as violent juvenile crime remains or escalates, economic losses will be felt," the judge said. "By front-loading services in the juvenile justice system, less money is expended in the adult criminal justice system."
The judge described her proposed $6.7 million general-fund budget for 2007, which is up $200,000 from this year, as reasonable and necessary.
"Anything less will jeopardize public safety and the functioning of the court," Judge Dellick said at her court's budget hearing Wednesday before the commissioners.
"We have the option of being known as a community whose children graduate from school or prison, whose children respect authority or mock it, whose children follow the law or break it," the judge told the crowded hearing. "We need to build families. It is a lot cheaper than building prisons."
"If it wasn't for your programs, the society that we presently live in our county would be way worse," Traficanti told the judge, emphasizing the importance of the truancy intervention program her court operates in conjunction with the city schools and the county's Department of Job and Family Services.
Presentation
Judge Dellick said she understands the county's financial problems, and her court has actively sought alternative funding and always operated within its budget.
The judge was accompanied by members of her staff, who gave presentations on drug treatment court, truancy intervention and other programs of her court.
The juvenile court gets more than 80 percent of its budget from the county's general fund, with other money coming from contracts with federal programs and from grants.
Anthony D'Apolito, juvenile court administrator, said the $200,000 increase from 2006 is being requested in part because of rising employee hospitalization and pension costs.
But, this year, he noted, the juvenile court is returning $200,000 to $250,000 in unused money to the county's general fund, partly because of savings from nonreplacement or delayed replacement of staff members who have resigned.
A 2006 pie chart of the juvenile court's budget prepared by the commissioners office shows almost 49 percent of it going for detention, almost 22 percent for the court, nearly 11 percent for probation, almost 6 percent for utilities and just over 13 percent for other operating expenses.
With the sheriff's office first, the juvenile court is the second-largest consumer of the county's general fund, said county Auditor Michael Sciortino. The general fund, which is the county's main operating resource, will total about $49 million for 2007, with two half-percent sales taxes together supplying $28 million of it. One of the sales taxes will be on the ballot for renewal next year.
With the budget chart, the commissioners office also issued graphs showing that youths who come before the county juvenile court are less likely than juveniles statewide (an average) to commit another crime.
milliken@vindy.com
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Building families is cheaper than building prisons, the judge said.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Judge Theresa Dellick made an eloquent and impassioned plea for support of her Mahoning County Juvenile Court, and Anthony Traficanti, chairman of the Mahoning County Commissioners, said she and her staff presented "a very compelling case."
"The county's best economic policy is to decrease violent juvenile crime. So long as violent juvenile crime remains or escalates, economic losses will be felt," the judge said. "By front-loading services in the juvenile justice system, less money is expended in the adult criminal justice system."
The judge described her proposed $6.7 million general-fund budget for 2007, which is up $200,000 from this year, as reasonable and necessary.
"Anything less will jeopardize public safety and the functioning of the court," Judge Dellick said at her court's budget hearing Wednesday before the commissioners.
"We have the option of being known as a community whose children graduate from school or prison, whose children respect authority or mock it, whose children follow the law or break it," the judge told the crowded hearing. "We need to build families. It is a lot cheaper than building prisons."
"If it wasn't for your programs, the society that we presently live in our county would be way worse," Traficanti told the judge, emphasizing the importance of the truancy intervention program her court operates in conjunction with the city schools and the county's Department of Job and Family Services.
Presentation
Judge Dellick said she understands the county's financial problems, and her court has actively sought alternative funding and always operated within its budget.
The judge was accompanied by members of her staff, who gave presentations on drug treatment court, truancy intervention and other programs of her court.
The juvenile court gets more than 80 percent of its budget from the county's general fund, with other money coming from contracts with federal programs and from grants.
Anthony D'Apolito, juvenile court administrator, said the $200,000 increase from 2006 is being requested in part because of rising employee hospitalization and pension costs.
But, this year, he noted, the juvenile court is returning $200,000 to $250,000 in unused money to the county's general fund, partly because of savings from nonreplacement or delayed replacement of staff members who have resigned.
A 2006 pie chart of the juvenile court's budget prepared by the commissioners office shows almost 49 percent of it going for detention, almost 22 percent for the court, nearly 11 percent for probation, almost 6 percent for utilities and just over 13 percent for other operating expenses.
With the sheriff's office first, the juvenile court is the second-largest consumer of the county's general fund, said county Auditor Michael Sciortino. The general fund, which is the county's main operating resource, will total about $49 million for 2007, with two half-percent sales taxes together supplying $28 million of it. One of the sales taxes will be on the ballot for renewal next year.
With the budget chart, the commissioners office also issued graphs showing that youths who come before the county juvenile court are less likely than juveniles statewide (an average) to commit another crime.
milliken@vindy.com
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Judge Theresa Dellick made an eloquent and impassioned plea for support of her Mahoning County Juvenile Court, and...
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