Trustees approve layoffs, present three-year plan
Poland Township Trustees approved layoffs in three departments and presented a three-year recovery plan at their regular trustees meeting Wednesday as the township faces a spending deficit in 2027.
The layoffs include three employees in the police department, one employee in zoning, and one clerical employee.
Each employee will receive a minimum of two weeks’ notice.
“I am extremely sorry that it came to this, and I wish it could have been under different circumstances,” said Trustee Frank DeMain.
DeMain says the layoffs will save the township about $521,000 at the end of 2027, but that trustees will still have to cut roughly $130,000 more to balance the budget next year.
This comes after trustees learned from Fiscal Officer Paul Canter last week that their police fund is projected to be at a deficit of $678,538 to finish 2027, while their zoning fund is projected to be at a deficit of $51,851.
The general fund is projected to be at $126,835 at the end of 2027, which would not be enough to subsidize either and forced trustees to consider cuts.
For decades, the police and zoning funds were subsidized by the general fund, but Canter says cost increases and expansions to the police department have made this model unsustainable.
The township has not passed a police levy since 1996.
Chief of Police Greg Wilson tells 21 News that the layoffs may force the department to discontinue certain community engagement programs.
Trustees voted 2-1 on each layoff, with Trustee Eric Ungaro as the lone dissenter, who preferred to go back to pre-2020 employment and lay off fewer police officers
“We had one more clerical, one more road, two more cops, so I just wanted to be very clear about where I stood on what we did not have to do,” he said.
Ungaro entered a motion to downsize the street department to four employees, but neither DeMain nor Trustee Edward Kempers seconded the motion.
Before the vote, DeMain presented a ‘Three-Year Strategic Recovery, Right-sizing, & Sustainability Plan’ that he created in consultation with department heads and the fiscal officer.
The plan outlines recommendations for how to restructure the township and each of its departments based on the ‘need, affordability, and the long-term health of Poland Township.’
“The objective is not to make Poland Township smaller; the objective is to make Poland Township sustainable,” he said.
One suggestion is to make the Chief of Police into a ‘working chief,’ who works shifts, earns an hourly wage and contributes to the department’s minimum two-officer staffing requirements per shift.
The plan also includes a recommendation to consider whether the Township Administrator should be a part-time position.
DeMain said during the meeting that the trustees would look into changes to the contracts of Police Chief Greg Wilson and Township Administrator Mark Covell.
DeMain also recommended a police levy for 2027.
Trustees originally considered one for the November ballot but were not able to submit it before the Aug. 5 deadline.
Canter says the Township also received real estate tax advances from Mahoning County after it was originally delayed, and will receive another payment Friday.
Poland Township Trustees meet again Wednesday, Sep. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Western Reserve Joint Fire District Fire Station #93 at 2050 S. Hubbard Road in Lowellville.
Download the WFMJ app for your Apple or Android smartphone or tablet to get our push alerts as news happens