Negotiations with the  377 Teamsters are heated with the union posting what appears to be an exorbitant salary for Mahoning County Engineer Pat Ginnetti. 

Ginnetti's pay exceeds $144,000 per year. According to US News and World Report, the median salary for a civil engineer is $83,540.

 Mahoning county auditor, Ralph Meacham explains that Ginetti's Salary is a bit higher due to the specific requisites required to work as a county engineer, that makes very few qualified for the job.

"There are only a few people in the county qualified to be our County Engineer," explains Meacham. 

He continues to say that the job can only be held by an individual "who has an engineering degree, has passed the registration requirement both as a professional engineer and a registered surveyor"

He also points out that the money Ginetti is paid is actually the combined pay for two positions. 

Meacham confirms " [Ginetti's salary] was made up of the engineer's salary plus $36,000 because he is also the County Sanitary Engineer. So Mr. Ginnetti gets $3,000 a month as sanitary engineer."

The remaining roughly $109,000 salary from his County Engineer position is set by the Ohio Revised code, and is based on county population.

We spoke to a county commissioner who explained allowing him to hold the Sanitary engineer position actually saves the county money.

That's because allowing him to serve as the head of both departments only requires the county to pay for one benefits package.