WARREN — Trumbull County is expecting to do approximately $20 million worth of road projects in 2026, with approximately $7.5 million being paid for through federal and state grant programs, according to Engineer David DeChristofaro.

He noted the county engineer’s department collected $10,019,490 in combined gas and license plate taxes in 2025. This was a slight decrease from the $10,200,243 collected in 2024. Five years ago, in 2021, the county collected $9,901,797 in these combined taxes.

“This is about a 1% increase over the five-year period,” DeChristofaro said. “That is pretty minimal compared to the rate of inflation over that period, especially compared to the rate of inflation, which increased about 3% a year.”

There has been a 15% increase in the department’s costs over that period of time, he estimates.

“It makes it difficult to do the work we are supposed to do, based on the budget that we have to use,” he said.

The engineer’s department had a total revenue of $14,352,157 in 2025. The majority of its budget — $6,062,718, or approximately 42% — comes from license plate tax fees. The next highest — $3,956,772, or 28% — comes from gas tax revenue.

In addition, the engineer’s department receives income from federal and state reimbursements.

The department’s 2025 expenses were about $13,684,360, from which the highest expenses were salaries and benefits at $4,943,973, or 36%; road and bridge contracts at $3,342,215, or 25%; and $3,015,641, or about 22% in road and bridge materials and supplies.

DeChristofaro noted the department is contracted to do about $20 million worth of road projects in 2026.

“We are using about $17 million in grants to complete these projects, which is unheard of,” DeChristofaro described. “That’s a huge amount of dollars in grants for the money we’re spending.”

He credited Gary Shaffer, deputy engineer, for getting that high percentage of grant dollars.

“Our revenues are not increasing enough,” he said.

Commissioner Tony Bernard said that because gas tax dollars that the county receives come from the state of Ohio, local government officials should be pressuring state officials to increase the percentage they receive so the counties can better address their road infrastructure concerns.

“I’m sure that they are keeping a large portion of it,” Bernard said.

DeChristofaro noted that each county and municipality in the state are able to raise additional money for road repairs by increasing the amount they can receive in license plate taxes.

“How do we compare the amount of gas tax and license plate taxes collected to other counties?” Bernard asked. “How do we know we’re getting our share back? I’m sure they (state officials) are keeping a large portion collected.”

DeChristofaro noted he does not know the state’s calculation on the percentage of gasoline taxes they return to counties.

The engineer explained the state provides counties and municipalities the ability to increase the amount of money they can collect in license plate fees with $5 per plate increases, up to $20 per plate.

“A lot of (Ohio) counties have helped themselves by passing local license plate taxes,” DeChristofaro said.

Trumbull County has not chosen to increase the amount of its license plate fee over the amount collected by the state. Cities within Trumbull County, including Niles, have increased the amount they collect in license plate fees.

Commissioner Rick Hernandez questioned how — on a county level — license plate taxes can be enacted.

“There are two ways,” DeChristofaro said. One is “by a resolution of the commissioners, and the other is by putting it on the ballot. It can be done in $5 increments, possibly up to $20.”

He noted that between 2009 and 2015, Niles officials put their own license plate tax on because they did not want the county to put the tax on before they had a chance to, so they could use the money to do their roads.

“Niles uses the $2 million in license plate taxes it collects to resurface streets with that money,” DeChristofaro said. “We can use $2 million to resurface streets in Trumbull County.”

Commissioner Denny Malloy questioned what Mahoning County is doing differently than Trumbull County.

“They collect about $15 per license plate in taxes,” DeChristofaro said. “They collect about $10 million more a year with that tax than we get from the general plate tax. Then they have a 0.25% sales tax that goes directly to the county engineer’s office, specifically for paving the roads.

“Our revenue is about $10 million a year,” DeChristofaro said. “Their revenue is about $30 million a year.”

He noted that because of the differences in revenue, Mahoning County’s engineering department is able to do a $10 million-per-year resurfacing program, so it can pave its roads every 12 to 15 years. Trumbull has a $2 million a year resurfacing program, which, if it is lucky, can only pave its roads once every 30 years.

“Roads don’t last 30 years,” DeChristofaro said. “Maybe they will last 15 to 20 years. We are at a disadvantage, but we’re doing what we can.”