The city of Toledo is facing a $23 million general fund deficit for 2015, and the Collins administration is looking to save up to $9 million by slashing that much out of what it pays to Lucas County for criminal justice charges.

Mayor D. Michael Collins and his chief of staff, Bob Reinbolt, stressed that the $23 million figure was calculated after city departments submitted draft spending proposals for next year and that the city would have a balanced budget by the charter-mandated Nov. 15 deadline.

“This is like any other year when we have the first pass at the budget and everyone puts in their wish lists and we have a conservative revenue estimate,” Mr. Reinbolt said. “We have until Nov. 15 to finish a budget, but I don’t think it’s different than any other year.”

But the $23 million figure was more than a preliminary estimate for the Collins administration when the possible budget problem was communicated to Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken.

Mr. Gerken said the budget shortfall was portrayed as a very real possibility and required the city to thrust up to $9 million in annual criminal-justice charges onto Lucas County taxpayers.

Mayor Collins told The Blade that he would soon order city police to charge most criminals under state laws rather than city ordinances. The initiative could save the city $4 million to $5 million a year, but that would mean an equal amount removed from the county’s revenues, City Finance Director George Sarantou said.

Mr. Gerken said the impact could be as high as $9 million in 2015.

The idea has been pitched by former mayors Carty Finkbeiner and Mike Bell when city budgets ran tight, but it was never implemented.

Mr. Gerken said he was “shocked and stunned” when Mayor Collins told him Friday of the plan to start charging suspects under the Ohio Revised Code.

“This is surely a breach of partnership,” Mr. Gerken said. “We have tried to be good partners on things like garbage, to water, and economic development. ... The mayor basically said, ‘We are $23 million in the hole, and we have to do something.’ ”

Mr. Gerken said county officials are scrambling to find an answer to the unexpected loss for the county’s budget.

Mayor Collins is required to release his proposed 2015 budget by Nov. 15 and is expected to include proposed savings in the city’s jail costs.

Many other cities — including Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati — charge suspects with the state laws rather than municipal ordinances, Mr. Reinbolt said.

Mayor Collins demanded reductions in city spending for the 2014 budget when he took office. His 2015 budget requirements have not been made public. Rising costs for salaries and health care are expected to push up spending in 2015, Mr. Reinbolt said.

“There are some natural increases with salaries and wages and medical, and $10 million is associated with personnel costs,” Mr. Reinbolt said. “We have to work down those numbers. No one was allowed to put in a huge increase.”

The city’s police and fire contracts expire next year, and assumptions for pay increases would have to be built into the next budget.

Mayor Collins and a majority of Toledo City Council in July approved a three-year contract with the largest municipal union that eliminated a 3 percent employee share of pension contributions the city has been paying but granted yearly 1.5 percent raises. The pay increases in the agreement will cost the city $300,000 a year, although only $40,000 of that comes from the city’s general fund.

The Collins administration said the city will reach its budgeted goal this year of $165.24 million from the city’s 2.25 percent income tax — which is the largest source of income for the general fund. Mr. Reinbolt said the 2015 budget would include a conservative increase for income tax revenues.

Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171 or on Twitter @IgnazioMessina.

First Published October 7, 2014, 4:00 a.m.