LISBON - Budget figures included in Columbiana County Recorder Craig Brown's re-election announcement were questioned by county Commissioner Mike Halleck.
Speaking at Wednesday's board meeting, Halleck noted that in Brown's re-election announcement he boasted of spending under $250,000 last year.
"Yet two days ago he was complaining about his (2012) budget" appropriation of $251,750, Halleck said. "It seems he was appropriated what he spent in 2010, so I don't know what his beef is."
On the recorder's website, Brown said he spent a combined $245,395 last year, including $48,744 from the equipment fund. Halleck wondered how Brown can boast of spending less than $250,000 while complaining about being allocated nearly $2,000 more in 2012.
"So if he really can operate on $250,000, we assume he can continue to do so," he said.
The 2012 county budget adopted by commissioners last week cut spending for all officeholders, and Brown's appropriations were reduced by nearly $14,000 from 2011 levels. Brown said the cuts would force him to use most of his equipment fund to subsidize daily operations at a time when commissioners have criticized him for failing to do enough to maintain equipment.
"Mike knows that they didn't provide us with enough money to operate that office ... without using the equipment fund" to subsidize daily operations, Brown said.
According to the county auditor's office, Brown spent $264,937 for general operations, in addition to $48,744 from the equipment fund used for equipment upgrades and maintenance contracts. Money for the equipment fund comes from a portion of the fee charged for recording documents.
Brown explained the reason for the discrepancy between his 2010 spending figures and those of the auditor's office. He said his figures exclude employee costs such as health insurance, retirement system payments and Medicare payments because they were once paid directly by commissioners and not the officeholder, but that changed several years ago.
In other words, the $245,395 figure for 2010 cited by Brown omitted what he spent on insurance, pension and Medicare. "The only way to do an apples to apples comparison ... was to do it this way," he explained.
Halleck also questioned the $450,000 Brown listed in his re-election announcement as being spent in 2003, two years before he took office. The auditor listed the recorder's office spending that year as $177,701.
Auditor Nancy Milliken was asked by this reporter to clarify the situation. She said that year $179,000 was spent from the equipment fund to purchase a new document-recording system, plus another $59,000 on equipment contracts.
Former recorder Jeff Hochadel was contacted, and he said the $179,000 was a lump-sum payment for new recording equipment he purchased with a bank loan. Money from the equipment fund was used to make the loan payments.
Halleck said the discrepancy in the figures demonstrates the need for all officeholders to present a "true picture" with the public when releasing spending figures.
Brown defended his use of the figures as "completely accurate," adding he has not overspent, nor is he overstaffed with four office employees.
"It's not an employee issue. It's not a spending issue. Mike should realize that the only way this is going to work is if we all work together and not nitpick," he said.
