Budget Commission Sets November 15 Deadline for Property Tax Mitigation Requests Following Last Year's Increase in Property Valuations
Budget Commission Meeting – September 30, 2024
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Special Session on Monday, September 30, 2024 at 10:00 am in the Auditor's Conference Room, 215 Main Street, Chardon, Ohio. The meeting was in person with a virtual option via MS Teams.
Meeting Attendance: Prosecutor Jim Flaiz, Treasurer Chris Hitchcock, and Chief Deputy Auditor Ron Leyde (substituting for Auditor Chuck Walder, who attended virtually).
Staff Attendance: Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kristen Rine (virtual), Deputy Auditor Kristen Sinatra, and Chief Operations Officer Pam McMahan.
County Staff: None.
Members of the Public: This LWV Geauga Observer (virtual).
The meeting was called to order at 10:01 am.
Minutes: Minutes from the Regular Meeting on September 16, 2024 were approved and are available here.
The following Revenue Certifications were approved:
Reviewer Note: An explanation of the different types of funds in revenue certifications can be found here.
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Chardon Local School District - Amendment #2. $62,665,685.61 in the general fund, $6,165,784.45 in special revenue funds, $446,668.68 in debt service funds, $2,832,397.76 in capital project funds, $8,815,413.30 in internal service funds, and $174,703.73 in fiduciary funds for a total of $81,100,653.53. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Chardon Schools’ amendment certified a special revenue funds increase of $173,929.22 and a capital project funds increase of $100.00.
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Cardinal Local Schools - Amendment #2. $20,588,622.13 in the general fund, $2,236,540.64 in special revenue funds, $1,994,860.60 in debt service funds, $735,199.28 in capital project funds, $653,780.32 in enterprise funds, $250,000.00 in internal service funds, and $78,144.46 in fiduciary funds for a total of $26,537,147.43. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Cardinal’s amendment reflected a general fund increase of $46,862.61, a special revenue funds increase of $103,807.28, a debt service funds increase of $200,134.70, a capital projects funds increase of $90,400, an enterprise funds adjustment of - $2,857.33, an internal service funds increase of $200,206.96, and a fiduciary funds adjustment of - $29,145.52.
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West Geauga Local School District - Amendment #3. $58,437,192.10 in the general fund, $5,476,544.83 in special revenue funds, $8,948,507.80 in capital project funds, $1,610,982.42 in enterprise funds, $282,286.33 in internal service funds, and $125,038.49 in fiduciary funds for a total of $74,880,551.97. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
West Geauga’s amendment certified a special revenue funds increase of $191,451.35 and an enterprise funds increase of $4,000.
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Chester Township - Amendment #7. $3,123,738.19 in the general fund, $12,399,643.64 in special revenue funds, $5,032.00 in capital project funds, and $13,011.99 in special assessment funds for a total of $15,541,425.82. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Chester’s amendment reflected transfers from the general fund into three special revenue funds: $138,208 to the road fund, $43,489 to the police fund, and $43,545 to the fire fund. Ms. Sinatra noted that these transfers are being done so Chester can start working on creating reserve funds.
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Newbury Township - Amendment #4. $1,463,380.95 in the general fund, $5,521,115.75 in special revenue funds, $69,900.00 in debt service funds, $1,151,254.34 in capital project funds, and $4,500.00 in special assessment funds for a total of $8,210,151.04. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Newbury’s amendment reflected the creation of: 1) the ODNR (Ohio Department of Natural Resources) Capital Improvements to Oberland Park special revenue fund in the amount of $98,000, and 2) a special assessment fund for property demolition in the amount of $4,500.
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Geauga County - Amendment #9. $54,612,226.17 in the general fund, $123,469,201.24 in special revenue funds, $5,572,596.38 in debt service funds, $1,256,502.32 in special assessment funds, $30,201,581.61 in capital project funds, $16,711,930.52 in enterprise funds, $1,449,886.67 in internal service funds, and $4,138,083.61 in fiduciary funds for a total of $237,412,008.52.
Geauga County’s amendment certified an increase of $155,000 in the Airport Improvements capital projects fund.
2025 Rate Resolutions
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The Budget Commissioners voted to accept the 2025 rate resolutions for the villages, townships, special districts, libraries, the County, and the school districts. Observer Note: After this observer asked for clarification about the rate resolutions during public comment, Mr. Flaiz explained that the actual rates themselves will not be available until they are provided by the State, which he estimated would be in early 2025. The Budget Commission vote simply accepted that these entities turned in the necessary materials for the rates to be calculated by the State.
Discussion
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Property Tax Mitigation: The Budget Commission discussed holding meetings and/or providing notifications to County entities (the County, municipalities, and school districts) regarding possibly mitigating the property tax increases caused by last year’s property revaluation. It was decided that Auditor’s Office Staff would email all entities to inform them that there is a deadline of November 15 for all mitigation requests.
Public Comment
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This observer requested copies of all documents from the meeting and reminded the Budget Commissioners about the League of Women Voters of Geauga Candidate Forums on September 30 at 6:30 pm at Kenston High School and October 3 at 6:30 pm at Berkshire High School. This observer also asked for clarification about the rate resolutions, and this information is provided above as an observer note.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:24 am
Next Meeting: The next regular meeting will be Monday, October 7, 2024 at 10:00 am in the Auditor's Conference Room, 215 Main Street, Chardon, Ohio.
Observer: Sarah McGlone
Editor: Gail Roussey
Reviewer: Carol Benton
Submitted: 10/4/24
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