Trending
No matter what happens on Nov. 3, the Trumbull County Auditor's Office will be under new leadership in 2027, and that in itself is good news.
Current Auditor Martha Yoder is out after finishing second to former State Rep. Mike Loychik in a three-way Republican primary in May. Loychik cruised in the GOP primary with 50.9% (7,595 votes), easily outdistancing Yoder (31.5%, 4,704) and Stacy Marling 17.6%, 2,632).
Loychik's general election opponent is Ed Stredney, a Niles City councilman and former Niles service director. Stredney was unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Neither candidate has the number-crunching experience of, say, Mahoning County Auditor Ralph Meacham, but either should be able to return the Trumbull County Auditor's Office to respectability. After careful consideration, the Tribune Chronicle editorial board gives a slight edge to Stredney, based on his experience in helping Niles escape fiscal emergency.
"My work and education provides a unique experience," Stredney said. "I understand the role of the auditor’s office. Those years when Niles was under fiscal emergency shaped my life. It was quite cumbersome. It set me up for what I do today."
He now works as a project manager at Water Works Technologies.
Niles was placed in fiscal emergency by the state in October 2014 due to a massive debt in its water fund and released from it in March 2019.
"While we were under fiscal emergency, [the city's budget] was quite cumbersome," he said. "We were required to go through the budget line by line."
Stredney noted that members of Niles City Council and the mayor's office worked to financially set up the city for the next 20 years.
"We did that and were very successful," he said. "When I left, I knew the city would be fiscally strong."
That sounds like the kind of outlook Trumbull County, which has operated on a shoestring budget for years, would love to have.
The embattled Yoder never really recovered from a 2024 incident in which her office changed bank routing information for Bazetta Township after receiving a scam email purportedly from the township's fiscal officer -- Marling -- and sent two payments totaling about $160,000 to an online bank account. The latter of the two payments was halted, but the first -- about $80,000 -- was never recovered.
Yoder was ordered to pay Bazetta for those lost funds, but fought the ruling. She claimed that the lack of two-factor authentication on Marling's email was to blame. Yoder eventually lost the case and had to compensate the township.
Yoder also repeatedly clashed with the Trumbull County commissioners, claiming she needed more funding than her office's budget had in order to complete its work through the end of the year.
Voters apparently noticed the dysfunction and decided a change in the auditor's office was needed. That dysfunction was especially difficult to ignore ---- and tolerate ---- when compared to neighboring Mahoning County, where the office led by Meacham, with Marling as his deputy, appears to be a model for efficient county government.
But how can Trumbull County duplicate that? Loychik and Stredney both say it starts with transparency. Both promise an auditor's office under their leadership will be accountable and operate out in the open. Both also acknowledged how important -- and controversial -- property valuations have become in the last several years.
Loychik said the auditor's office also should ensure accountability from other county offices.
"The auditor is the fiscal watchdog for the county," Loychik said. "The auditor should be sitting on the budget process and conversations every single time. Taxpayer money is coming in to pay for salaries, to pay for certain services and to pay for an array of things.
"The auditor should be there to hold people accountable for where we are spending our money and how we are spending our money."
Loychik, a U.S. Air Force veteran, earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and management and an MBA in finance, both from Columbia Southern University.
He told the Tribune Chronicle editorial board that his experience in the state Legislature will be an asset in the auditor's office.
"I understand how the state government works with county governments," Loychik said. "It will be a huge benefit."
But we give the edge to Stredney, who has experience with the kind of line-by-line budgeting required to help Niles escape the shadow of fiscal emergency.
SCRIPTURE
I want to know Christ--yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. Philippians 3:10 NIV