WARREN — Trumbull County is expecting to do approximately $20 million worth of road projects in 2026, with approximately $7.5 million being paid for through federal and state grant programs, according to Engineer David DeChristofaro.

He noted the county engineer’s department collected $10,019,490 in combined gas and license plate taxes in 2025. This was a slight decrease from the $10,200,243 collected in 2024. Five years ago, in 2021, the county collected $9,901,797 in these combined taxes.

“This is about a 1% increase over the five-year period,” DeChristofaro said. “That is pretty minimal compared to the rate of inflation over that period, especially compared to the rate of inflation, which increased about 3% a year.”

There has been a 15% increase in the department’s costs over that period of time, he estimates.

“It makes it difficult to do the work we are supposed to do, based on the budget that we have to use,” he said.

The engineer’s department had a total revenue of $14,352,157 in 2025. The majority of its budget — $6,062,718, or approximately 42% — comes from license plate tax fees. The next highest — $3,956,772, or 28% — comes from gas tax revenue.

In addition, the engineer’s department receives income from federal and state reimbursements.

The department’s 2025 expenses were about $13,684,360, from which the highest expenses were salaries and benefits at $4,943,973, or 36%; road and bridge contracts at $3,342,215, or 25%; and $3,015,641, or about 22% in road and bridge materials and supplies.

DeChristofaro noted the department is contracted to do about $20 million worth of road projects in 2026.

“We are using about $17 million in grants to complete these projects, which is unheard of,” DeChristofaro described. “That’s a huge amount of dollars in grants for the money we’re spending.”

He credited Gary Shaffer, deputy engineer, for getting that high percentage of grant dollars.

“Our revenues are not increasing enough,” he said.

Commissioner Tony Bernard said that because gas tax dollars that the county receives come from the state of Ohio, local government officials should be pressuring state officials to increase the percentage they receive so the counties can better address their road infrastructure concerns.

“I’m sure that they are keeping a large portion of it,” Bernard said.

DeChristofaro noted that each county and municipality in the state are able to raise additional money for road repairs by increasing the amount they can receive in license plate taxes.

“How do we compare the amount of gas tax and license plate taxes collected to other counties?” Bernard asked. “How do we know we’re getting our share back? I’m sure they (state officials) are keeping a large portion collected.”