Prosecutor wants levy to keep crime lab operating

Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson said the Lake County Crime Laboratory is probably the most important crime fighting tool for local law enforcement.

“Because of the Lake County Crime Laboratory, we solve crimes that would otherwise go unsolved if we did not have our laboratory,” he said at the May 4 Lake County commissioners meeting.

Coulson said the lab, however, is “facing a crisis.”

The reasons for that are twofold, the prosecutor explained.

One is an increased caseload.

“The opioid epidemic is out of sight and the caseload has grown exponentially,” he said. “But not just because crime is up, but also because we do things now. Science has gotten better. We can do things now that were never done before, couldn’t be done before.”

Coulson cited touch DNA — requiring only small samples like skin cells left on an object — as an example.

“With the caseload increasing, we need more personnel, more staff,” he said. “We’re in a crisis; we never had backlogs in the crime lab in the past. We have backlogs now. Serious backlogs.” The other is money. Lake County voters approved a .3-mill replacement levy in 1999. In 2016, that brought in estimated tax revenue of a little more than $1.45 million. The levy cost taxpayers $7.51 per $100,000 home valuation.

Next year, the Crime Lab will require $2.8 million to operate at its current level, Coulson said.

“The money coming in is about half what we need to operate,” he said.

The Crime Lab’s total expenditures were about $2.2 million in 2012 and about $2.5 million last year, according to figures from the county’s budget director. By 2021, the projected expenditures are anticipated to exceed $3 million.

Over the past few years, the department’s ending cash balance has been shrinking. It had roughly a $4.2 million balance in 2012 and is project to have $716,691.82 at the end of this year. The projection puts it at more than $500,000 in the red by the end of 2018. It’s only projected to get worse from there.

Coulson is asking the commissioners to put a levy on the November ballot requesting an additional .5 mills for the lab. That would cost taxpayers an additional $17.50 per $100,000 home valuation.

The prosecutor said he’s tried unsuccessfully over the past few years to get a levy on the ballot.

“Now I’m here to tell you that if we don’t get a levy on the ballot in November and if that levy doesn’t pass, we will start closing down substantially all of the crime laboratory. It’s that serious. It can’t operate on half the money you need.”

Coulson said from the figures he’s received from the budget director, the levy would keep the Crime Lab operating for up to another 15 years.

“That’s my projection,” he said. “It will take a lot of good management to make sure we’re fiscally responsible, but I think that’s the amount of money we’re going to need to keep the crime laboratory the best crime fighting tool in Lake County.”

The Crime Lab does things the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations does not do, Coulson said at the meeting. BCI does not do touch DNA on property crimes, hair comparisons, or toxicology on alcohol cases. BCI also limits the number of samples in a murder case. BCI also doesn’t test all of the drugs the Crime Lab does, he added.

Commissioner Daniel P. Troy said the county spends about 65 percent to 70 percent of its budget on criminal justice.

“We have a standalone crime lab in Lake County, very few other entities have that,” Troy said. “We have a standalone narcotics bureau. We spend a lot of money of criminal justice in this county. The taxpayers spend a lot of money.”

Troy said what Coulson is requesting would be a 226 percent increase in funding for the Crime Lab.

“When I vote to put something on the ballot, I’m saying to the voters I’m absolutely convinced this is the amount of money that’s needed, so therefore I’m saying this is absolutely necessary,” he said.

Troy said he’s not convinced a 226 percent increase in funding is in order.

Coulson said Troy has not taken a tour of the crime lab to see how behind they are.

“What you have to understand is what our workload is,” Coulson said. “I’m here to tell you, we solve crimes in Lake County that would go unsolved in Lake County if we did not have that crime lab.”

Troy said he wants whatever is necessary within reason for the Crime Lab.

“We live in a world where resources finite,” Troy said. “There is only so much capacity in my mind for the voters to pay property taxes.”