Budget Commission Approves 2025 Meeting Schedule
Budget Commission Meeting – October 7, 2024
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Regular Session on Monday, October 7, 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 Auditor Chuck Walder.
Staff Attendance: Chief Deputy Auditor Ron Leyde, Deputy Auditors Tammy Most and Kristen Sinatra, and Chief Operations Officer Pam McMahan.
County Staff: Budget and Finance Manager Adrian Gorton (virtual).
Members of the Public: This LWV Geauga Observer (virtual).
The meeting was called to order at 10:01 am.
Minutes: Minutes from the Special Meeting on September 30, 2024 were approved and will be available here when posted.
The following Revenue Certification was re-signed:
Reviewer Note: An explanation of the different types of funds in revenue certifications can be found here.
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Newbury Township - Amendment #4. $1,463,380.95 in the general fund, $5,619,115.75 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 was originally approved at the September 30, 2024 Budget Commission Meeting, but it had to be re-signed due to a calculation error. The special revenue funds total was increased by $98,000, as was the total certificate amount.
Discussion
January 6, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
January 20, 2025 Holiday Cancelled
*January 23, 2025 Thursday 10:00 am
February 3, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
February 17, 2025 Holiday Canceled
*February 19,2025 Wednesday 9:00 AM 2025-2026 School Budget Hearing: Cardinal, Chardon, Kenston
*February 20, 2025 Thursday 9:00 AM 2025-2026 School Budget Hearing: Berkshire & West Geauga
March 3, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
*March 17, 2025 Monday 10:00 am Levied Departments Budget Review
April 7, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
*April 21, 2025 Monday 10:00 am Geauga Public Health Budget Hearing
May 5, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
May 19, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
June 2, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
June 16, 2025 Monday Canceled
*June 30, 2025 Friday 2:00 pm Local School District Year-End Financials
July 7, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
July 21, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
August 4, 2025 Monday 10:00 am Annual Organizational Meeting
*August 18, 2025 Monday 9:00 am 2026 Budget Hearing
*August 19, 2025 Tuesday 9:00 am 2026 Budget Hearing continued
September 1, 2025 Holiday Canceled
*September 15,2025 Monday 10:00 am
*September 30, 2025 Tuesday 10:00 am Rate Resolutions
October 6, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
October 20, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
November 3, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
November 17, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
December 1, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
December 15, 2025 Monday 10:00 am
*December 30, 2025 Tuesday 10:00 am Year-end – may not be needed
*Denotes a special meeting. Location change could also create a special meeting.
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Property Tax Mitigation: Mr. Hitchcock brought up a recent Plain Dealer article in which an individual from Policy Matters “...advised against property tax mitigation that would return money to taxpayers because in the opinion of this person the tax increase in Cuyahoga County caused by property revaluation was... such a modest increase and the governments need that (money).” Reviewer Note: This article was written by guest columnist Zach Schiller, who is Research Director of Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit research institute with offices in Cleveland and Columbus. The September 29 article can be found here. Mr. Hitchcock went on to say that “... for some of the taxpayers, it's not a modest increase at all. It can be substantial, and the person made no mention about (it being) an unvoted increase of taxation, which really is the unfortunate result of this reval….” He stated that the Geauga Budget Commission should consider putting out a statement on the actions it has taken regarding property tax mitigation and making it available to the public. Observer Note: No action was taken on this suggestion. Mr. Hitchcock concluded his remarks by saying “I was very disappointed to see this person saying government needs more resources, and there was no vote of the people.”
Mr. Walder pointed out that Cuyahoga County has a single appointed official who fills several roles, including Auditor and Recorder, and this individual has recommended that governmental entities keep all of the additional property tax revenue brought in due to increased property values. Observer Note: This official is the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer, and more information about his recommendation to keep the additional property tax money is available here. Mr. Walder stated that it “... took me by shock, that they didn’t even consider appealing to their local governments. I mean, I get the County may be in trouble, because that's one critical subdivision. What about all of the individual entities?” He went on to say: “No one was asked for them to get the money taken from them, and nobody asked the local governments, ‘do you really need this money?’ ” Mr. Walder noted that budgets are waived in Cuyahoga County, so “nobody has to come before the Budget Commission there and face the music….”
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Prosecutor’s Office Levy Approval Process Change: Mr. Flaiz stated that he is planning to revamp his office’s internal policy regarding levy approval. He said that: “We are not going to sign off on a levy resolution until we have the certificate of need in our hands” because in the past entities have said “... ‘we'll fill in the certificate of need later’… and (they) do it wrong. They do their own math and make up a number.” Mr. Flaiz explained that his APAs (Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys) have previously just approved the wording of resolutions without vetting the numbers, but “... almost every single one of these has been a problem, because the numbers got messed up by our client. So we're going to just start requiring that (certificate of need) and vetting the numbers.”
Public Comment
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This observer requested a copy of the approved 2025 Budget Commission meeting schedule, which was received via email on October 8 and is included above in this report. This observer also asked for clarification on the revenue certification that was re-signed at the beginning of the meeting and inquired about the nature of the meeting Mr. Flaiz will be having with local Fiscal Officers. All of this information is provided above.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:24 am.
Next Meeting: The next regular meeting will be Monday, October 21, 2024 at 10:00 am in the Auditor's Conference Room, 215 Main Street, Chardon, Ohio.
Observer: Sarah McGlone
Editor: Anne Ondrey
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
Submitted: 10/8/24
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