Willoughby Hills Council members Nancy E. Fellows, David M. Fiebig, Chris Hallum, and Councilman-elect John T. Plecnik will be sworn-in at 5:30 p.m. Friday during a ceremony at city hall.

Lake County Probate Court Judge Mark J. Bartolotta will preside and a reception will follow the event.

John Arthur Hutchison
JHutchison@News-Herald.com
Twitter: @newsheraldjah

The three-member Lake County Board of Commissioners will definitely have a western Lake County feel next year.

It also will be an all-Democrat commission, as Robert E. Aufuldish of Wickliffe was re-elected Tuesday and Willowick Council President Judy Moran was elected to her first term.

They join Willowick Democrat Daniel P. Troy, who remains on the board until his term expires at the end of 2014.

According to final unofficial results (used for all information in this column), Aufuldish won by a margin of 54,787 to 49,081.

He won each precinct in Eastlake, Mentor-on-the-Lake, Painesville, Wickliffe, Willoughby, Willowick, Fairport Harbor, Grand River, Lakeline, and Timberlake.

Aufuldish also prevailed in Madison Township, winning seven of 10 precincts and six of 11 in Painesville Township,

His opponent, Republican John R. Hamercheck, a Madison Village councilman, won each precinct in Kirtland, Kirtland Hills, Leroy Township, his hometown Madison Village, North Perry Village, Perry Village, Perry Township and Waite Hill.

Hamercheck also won 13 of 14 precincts in Concord Township and four of seven precincts in Willoughby Hills.

The two candidates split the city of Mentor, as each won 17 precincts.

Overall, Aufuldish won 99 precincts, while Hamercheck won 58 precincts.

Moran won by a margin of 53,713 to 50,897, defeating Willoughby Hills Councilman David M. Fiebig.

Moran won each precinct in Eastlake, Mentor-on-the-Lake, Painesville, Wickliffe, Willowick, Fairport Harbor, Grand River and Timberlake.

She also was victorious in Willoughby by winning 10 of 15 precincts, six of 10 precincts in Madison Township and six of 11 precincts in Painesville Township.

Fiebig won each precinct in Kirtland, Concord Township, Kirtland Hills, Leroy Township, North Perry Village, Perry Village, Perry Township and Waite Hill.

He also took 19 of 34 precincts in Mentor and five of seven precincts in his hometown Willoughby Hills.

Overall, Moran won 89 precincts, and Fiebig won 67 precincts. They tied in Mentor Precinct 2C, as each received 421 votes.

For both commissioners races combined, there were 208,478 total votes for the two races and of that figure 108,500 were for Democrats with 99,978 for Republicans.

That contrasts to the top of each party’s ticket in Lake County, where Republican Mitt Romney beat President Barack Obama by a margin of 57,150 to 55,219 giving Romney the edge by 1,931 votes.

Also in Lake County, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, beat Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican, by a margin of 52,896 to 51,335 to win the county’s overall vote by 1,561 votes.

In a future column, I’ll take a look at how the Ohio House of Representatives races in Lake County shaped out and possibly others that have generated interest.

Prediction recap

In last Sunday’s column I made predictions for 18 races that appeared in the print edition. I also posted those plus 10 additional picks on the News-Herald’s political blog.

Out of 28 races, I got 24 correct — missing on one countywide result in Lake and Geauga counties, one multi-county race and one statewide race.

In print, 16 of were 18 correct, missing on the races for Lake County recorder and Geauga County commissioner for the unexpired term ending Dec. 31, 2014.

I incorrectly picked Jason Wuliger to defeat Ann Radcliffe in the recorder’s race, and Jim Dvorak to beat Mary Samide in the commissioner race. Radcliffe and Samide were victorious.

For the additional 10 picks published online, I missed when I picked Mary Jane Trapp to defeat Colleen O’Toole for 11th District Court of Appeals, and I picked Yvette McGee Brown to beat Sharon L. Kennedy for Ohio Supreme Court for the unexpired term ending Dec. 31, 2014. O’Toole and Kennedy were victorious.

John Arthur Hutchison

JHutchison@News-Herald.com

Twitter: @newsheraldjah

David M. Fiebig, candidate for Lake County commissioner, announced he received endorsements by:

U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette, Lake County Commissioner Ray Sines, Lake County Sheriff Daniel A. Dunlap, Lake County Prosecutor Chuck Coulson, Lake County Engineer Jim Gills, Lake County Auditor Ed Zupancic, former Lake County Recorder Frank Suponcic, Ohio House of Representatives Speaker William G. Batchelder, state Rep. Ron Young, state Sen. John Eklund, former state Sen. Bob Gardner, former state Rep. Jamie Callender, Willoughby Hills Mayor Bob Weger, Willoughby Hills Coucilmen Frank Germano, Ray Somich and Council President David A. Reichelt, Willoughby Hills Councilwoman Nancy E. Fellows, former Willoughby Hills Mayor Mort O’Ryan, Kirtland Mayor Mark Tyler, Willoughby Mayor Dave Anderson, former Waite Hill Mayor Art Baldwin, Mentor Councilman Scott Marn, Mentor-on-the-Lake Councilman Troy Elam, Concord Township Trustee Connie Luhta, Willoughby Councilman Bob Carr, Willoughby Councilman Jeff Black, Perry Township Trustee Phillip Haskell, North Perry Village Councilman Richard Shreve, Madison Council President Don Bartlett, Madison Council Vice-President Kenneth Takacs, Madison Councilman John Hamercheck, Madison Councilman Duane Frager, Madison Councilman Mark Vest, former Madison Mayor Robert Lee, Leroy Township Trustee Linda Burhenne, Fairport Harbor Councilman Tony Bertone, Fairport Harbor Councilman Albert Paolino, Painesville Councilman Mike DeLeone, Painesville Councilwoman Lori DiNallo, Kirtland Councilman Matt Schulz, Eastlake Councilwoman Cindy Quinn-Hopkins, former Wickliffe Councilman Gordon Levar, Lake and Geauga Area Association of Realtors, and the Lake County Republican Party.

John Arthur Hutchison
JHutchison@News-Herald.com
Twitter: @newsheraldjah

The Lake and Geauga Area Association of Realtor’s Legislative Committee announced it supports the following candidates for these races:

U.S. House of Representatives, Ohio 14th Congressional District: David Joyce
Ohio Senate District 18: John Eklund
Ohio House of Representative District 76: Matt Lynch
Ohio House of Representative District 61: Ron Young
Ohio House of Representative District 60: John Rogers
Geauga County Commissioner: Tracy Jemison
Geauga County Recorder: Sharon Gingerich
Geauga County Clerk of Courts: Denise Kaminski
Lake County Commissioner: John Hamercheck 
Lake County Commissioner: David Fiebig
Lake County Prosecutor: Charles Coulson
Lake County Treasurer: Bob Patterson
Lake County Recorder: Jason Wuliger
Lake County Clerk of Courts: Maureen Kelly

John Arthur Hutchison
JHutchison@News-Herald.com
Twitter: @newsheraldjah

Gov. John Kasich’s state budget proposal may cause local governments in Ohio to feel the pinch from a substantial funding loss.

If approved, the state Local Government Fund will decrease by 33 percent overall during the next two years when fiscal year 2012 begins July 1.

Broken down by year, the decrease in the state’s budget for local governments would decline by 20.9 percent in fiscal year 2012. The total dollars would drop to $526 million from the $665 million allocated for fiscal year 2011.

For fiscal year 2013, the overall total drops to $339 million, which is a loss of $190 million or 35.6 percent from fiscal year 2012.

Upon further review, the total allocated for fiscal year 2013 is down overall $326 million or about 49 percent from fiscal year 2011.

For Lake County as a whole, $16.9 million in state Local Government Fund dollars was distributed to 26 entities in 2010.

Under the budget proposal, the county would lose about $3.53 million in the fiscal year 2012 and then an additional $4.758 million in fiscal year 2013.

Commissioner Daniel P. Troy hinted Thursday that perhaps it might be time to take a closer look at exactly how that money is distributed within the county.

According to Ohio Revised Code, the method of distribution can be conducted in two ways — either the county Budget Commission can make a determination on how to distribute the money or the political subdivisions can pass an alternate formula.

Back in the 1980s, officials choose the alternate formula methodology and it’s been done that way ever since, according to Joe Dowd, chief deputy auditor for Lake County.

The formula was derived by using a base amount and on population figures back then and is generally updated every 10 years.

According to Ohio Revised Code, any changes to the formula or a decision to simply allow the Budget Commission to make the distributions would need to be approved by county commissioners, the legislative body for the county’s largest city — which is currently Mentor — and by at least 50 percent of the remaining communities.

If those officials and communities approved any potential changes, the matter would come before the county Budget Commission, which is comprised of the county auditor, treasurer and prosecutor.

The point was?

National Sunshine Week began March 13 and concluded Saturday. It was designed to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofit organizations, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know.

The initiative got off to a peculiar start Monday in Ohio as the governor first decided to not let media take photos, shoot video or utilize television cameras during his Tuesday afternoon press briefing that he conducted prior to unveiling the state’s proposed budget at a town hall meeting later in the day.

Kasich eventually changed his mind after complaints were filed by the Ohio Newspaper Association and The Associated Press.

Geauga filings, possible candidates

David Snively has filed petitions with the Geauga County Elections Board for Newbury Township trustee.

Potential candidates — meaning they have not filed for office — include Susan Plavcan for Auburn Township fiscal officer; Jeremiah Polz and Joseph J. Triscaro for Bainbridge Township trustee; Nancy Call-Szorady, Luanne Dvorak for Burton Township trustee; Clay Lawrence for Chester Township trustee; Michael Stark for Chester Township fiscal officer; Bob Faehnle for Munson Township trustee; Patrick J. Joyce and Michael Massey for Parkman Township trustee; Martin Winston for Russell Township trustee; Thomas Petronio, Robin Lynn Wells and Andy Sefcik for Cardinal Board of Education; Jackie Dottore for West Geauga Board of Education.

Fundies
Willoughby Hills Councilman David M. Fiebig: Spring Fever party, 5 to 7 p.m., Tuesday at Willoughby Hills Community Center. See Joyce Hribar Fiebig.

Realtors Political Action Committee: Silent/live auction, 5:30 p.m., Thursday at Kirtlander Party Center. See Vicki Pate.

Mayor Mark Tyler of Kirtland, will host a Gathering of Friends, 5:30 to 7:30, April 14 at Dino’s Restaurant on Route 306. See Sandy Tyler.

John Arthur Hutchison’s column appears Sundays in The News-Herald. View it online: www.northernohiolocalpolitics.blogspot.com.

JHutchison@News-Herald.com
Twitter: @newsheraldjah

Most branches of government are facing tough tasks putting together their budgets, and Lake County commissioners are no exception.

Due to decreased revenues, some elected county officials and department heads have had to utilize staff furloughs, announce layoffs, leave vacant positions unfilled and consider shortening office hours.

Sheriff Daniel A. Dunlap recently laid off two deputies. The Elections Board will implement furlough days, and potentially consider other cost-cutting options, because there is a $130,000 difference between what the department requests and what commissioners propose.

The reasons for the declining revenues?

Interest earnings in 2008 provided the county with $6.9 million. But rates remain at historically low levels, meaning revenue dipped to $4 million in 2009 and shrunk to $2.18 million for 2010 as higher returning investments came off the book. This revenue is projected to provide $1.25 million this year.

Collections from annual property taxes have dropped because property valuations that determine how much one’s home and land are worth declined two years ago by 10 percent in the county — and aren’t likely to rise when the triennial update is completed next year.

Sales tax revenues are the county’s biggest source of revenue, and collections have remained flat. Sales taxes generated  $14,524,182 in 2009, $14,519,064 in 2010, and is projected to be around $14.1 million this year.

The only controllable option commissioners have to increase revenue is to raise the county’s sales tax. The idea is unpopular and not one commissioners are seriously considering.

Should the commissioners ever change their mind, there’s a process they would have to follow to do so.

How it would work

Ohio law permits county commissioners to levy additional sales tax by increments of a quarter of 1 percent by adopting a resolution that generally must state the tax’s purpose and how long it would be in effect.

Two public hearings would need to be conducted before passing the resolution. The second hearing must be held not less than three days, nor more than 10 days, after the first.

In the resolution, commissioners may — but are not required to — direct the Elections Board to ask voters whether to approve the increase.

If the resolution is passed as a non-emergency measure, commissioners must pass it by at least a 2-1 vote and the question may be submitted to the Elections Board 90 days before the election.

If the resolution is adopted as an emergency measure deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, it must receive a unanimous vote and it needs to state the reasons for such necessity.

Voters can use a referendum to prevent a non-emergency tax from going into effect 30 days after the resolution is passed. An emergency tax is not subject to a referendum, but voters can decide to repeal it by petition.

The petition would need to be filed at least 75 days before the general election in any year and must be signed by at least 10 percent of the voters who voted in the most recent gubernatorial election.

If a tax were to be repealed by voters, it would be effective after the current year.

Announcements, endorsements

Highland Heights Mayor Scott Coleman announced he will seek a third term in office this November.
 

Coleman cites support and endorsements from U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, state Sen. Tim Grendell, Mayfield Heights Mayor Greg Costabile, Mayfield Village Mayor Bruce Rinker, Gates Mills Mayor Connie White, Lyndhurst Mayor Joe Cicero, Richmond Heights Mayor Dan Ursu, Willoughby Hills Mayor Robert Weger and South Euclid Mayor Georgine Welo.

Fundies

Lake County Commissioner Daniel P. Troy: Mardi Gras Party, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Holiday Inn Express LaMalfa Centre in Mentor. See Kip Molenaar.
 

Jamie Callender, candidate for Ohio Senate: Mardi Gras party, 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Quail Hollow Inn in Concord Township. See Jamie or Heidi Callender.

Lake Commissioner Robert E. Aufuldish: St. Patrick’s Day celebration from 5 to 7:30 p.m. March 17 at Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites LaMalfa in Mentor. See Kathie Aufuldish-Freshour or Ernie Koenig.

Willoughby Hills Councilman David M. Fiebig: Spring Fever party, 5 to 7 p.m., March 22 at Willoughby Hills Community Center. See Joyce Hribar Fiebig.

John Arthur Hutchison’s column appears Sundays in The News-Herald. View it online at www.northernohiolocalpolitics.blogspot.com.

JHutchison@News-Herald.com
Twitter: @newsheraldjah