YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Auditor Ralph Meacham gave his State of the County address Monday at the Mahoning County commissioners meeting, revealing that the county’s sales tax revenue for 2024 was almost identical to 2023 after several years of increases before that.

The county’s general fund and justice fund sales taxes — which pay for most county operations — in 2023 and 2024 were “very similar,” Meacham said. The figure was $54,724,946 in 2023 and $54,760, 222 last year.

The general fund pays for county departments, such as the county commissioners, auditor and treasurer’s offices. The justice fund pays for departments such as the sheriff’s office, jail, prosecutor’s office, 911 center and coroner’s office.

The sales-tax money collected for general fund and justice fund departments was $47.5 million in 2020, $50.9 million in 2021, $53.5 in 2022 and $54.7 million in 2023 — steady increases. But it stalled at $54.8 million in 2024.

Meacham, who gives a State of the County address every year at this time, said he speaks to other county auditors through the county auditor’s association, said, “Many other counties have had similar (stagnant income tax revenues), and in some cases declines in (sales taxes) and they are experiencing some budgetary issues, unfortunately.”

He does not know why the sales tax numbers remained flat in 2024, but he speculates it is because of inflation, such as higher property taxes.

“People stop buying when they feel less secure,” he said. “Gas prices, food prices, dining out prices, all of those things.”

Federal stimulus checks helped people keep buying when those were being distributed after COVID-19 began. And counties started getting sales tax on online purchases around 2019, increasing sales-tax revenues at that time, he said.

Meacham’s State of the County address is based on a report prepared by his office that explains the county’s finances with graphs and charts.

One chart shows that the county’s general fund continues to have ever-increasing carryover balances, rising from $30.4 million left after 2022, to $31.7 million left after 2023 and $34.7 million left after 2024.

Likewise, the Justice Fund’s carryover balance continues to rise — $20.1 million left after 2022, $24.6 million left after 2023 and $28.2 million left after 2024.

He showed that full-time-equivalent employees on the county payroll have dropped by 67 in the past four years — from 1,479 in 2021 to 1,412 in 2024. But the gross payroll for those employees has risen from $81.9 million to $89.8 million.

Regarding the 38% average increase in residential property values in the most recent Mahoning County property revaluation carried out in 2023, Meacham said he does not think the increases are over.

“We still have the high cost of building, high cost of materials, high cost of labor. It’s a real shortage,” but there are fewer residential property sales than there were a year or two ago.

He said he and other county auditors have urged the Ohio General Assembly to make changes to help people affected by rising property taxes, but nothing has been approved. Meacham said he believes legislators should reign in the ability of school districts to get unvoted increases in their property tax revenues as a result of the provision in Ohio law called the “20-mill floor.”

He said his office’s website is being improved with software called Pivot Point that does not cost any more money to the county but provides more “functionality” when carrying out property searches. The software is also more user-friendly on smartphones than before.

The commissioners had their reorganizational meeting Monday, voting for Commissioner Anthony Traficanti to serve as chairman and Carol Rimedio Rigehtti to serve as vice chairman. It was the first meeting for Gino DeFabio, who defeated Commissioner David Ditzler in the Nov. 5 election.

The commissioners set their regular weekly meeting time as 10 a.m. on Thursday in the basement of the county courthouse, just as it has been in recent years.

During the regular meeting that followed, the commissioners authorized the transfer of $455,000 to a fund where renovations to the county law library can be paid.

Officials said the commissioners will vote in several weeks on whether to approve a contract for the project, which will create more meeting spaces in the law library.

In remarks at the end of the meeting, DiFabio, a Republican, said he expects that he and his two Democrat colleagues will get along and “work as a group.”

“We are not always going to agree on everything, but why I was elected is because I want to do what is best in my heart, from my perspective,” he said.

“I’m very excited today for this opportunity. I am bursting inside,” he said. He wants county employees to be proud to say where they work.

Traficanti said of DiFabio, “He’s here every day” and called him “a quick study.”