Budget Commission To Appeal Board of Tax Appeals Decision in the Geauga Park District Case
Budget Commission Meeting – November 4, 2024
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Regular Session on Monday, November 4, 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: Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kristen Rine (virtual), Automatic Data Processing Chief Deputy Administrator Frank Antenucci, 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 10:02 am.
Minutes: Minutes from the Regular Meeting on October 21, 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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Munson Township - Amendment #4. $1,826,205.45 in the general fund, $4,109,101.82 in special revenue funds, and $2,030.00 in special assessment funds for a total of $5,937,337.27. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Munson Township’s amendment reflected increases in several special revenue funds: the fire operating and apparatus fund, the local fiscal recovery fund, and the opioid settlement fund for a total increase of $77,288.90.
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Bainbridge Township - Amendment #10. $4,230,348.65 in the general fund, $19,510,388.72 in special revenue funds, $2,015,383.34 in debt service funds, $2,997,440.76 in capital project funds, and $539.02 in fiduciary funds for a total of $28,754,100.49. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Bainbridge’s amendment certified a $500,000 increase in the General Fund Capital Reserve Fund.
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Newbury Township - Amendment #5. $1,463,380.95 in the general fund, $5,623,615.75 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 $8,312,651.04. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Newbury’s amendment reflected an increase in the cemetery special revenue fund of $4,500.
The following Revenue Certification was re-signed:
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South Russell Village - $1,611,430.00 in the general fund, $6,601,223.00 in special revenue funds, $2,242,251.00 in capital project funds, and $210,300.00 in fiduciary funds for a total of $10,665,204.00.
South Russell’s original certificate for 2025 that was approved at the Budget Hearings in August had to be re-signed due the village’s decision to mitigate property taxes by reducing collection of its Road and Bridge Levy by $122,438.
Mr. Walder asked how many entities have mitigated property taxes for 2025 so far. Ms. Most and Ms. Sinatra said that, in addition to South Russell Village, Munson Township is tentatively considering mitigation and Burton (unspecified whether this was Burton Village or Burton Township) is working on it as well.
Discussion
Ms. Sinatra mentioned that an email was received from a taxpayer “...commending the Budget Commission for all the work that you people have done, as far as helping different subdivisions understand the impact of the increase on the property taxes and helping them come up with mitigation options.” Mr. Walder mentioned that this taxpayer had sent something to the newspapers as well. Mr. Flaiz expressed the opinion that this taxpayer had a “...very detailed understanding of what we do” and hypothesized that the writer gained this understanding by reading LWVG Observer Reports. Observer Note: A member of the Auditor’s Office Staff confirmed that this email was sent by Linda Nokes, an Auburn Resident whose Letter to the Editor appeared in the October 24 edition of the Geauga Maple Leaf, which is available here under the title “Issue 3: Kenston PI Levy Considerations.” In this letter, Ms. Nokes stated that: “The Geauga County Auditor and Budget Commission notified all property owners in the county of the huge increase in the State’s reappraisal and strongly suggested taxpayers request of local officials they lower their inside millage to help ease the burden on taxpayers.” She noted that neither Auburn Township nor Kenston Schools mitigated their increased inside millage, and now both entities “... are running levies on the November ballot in addition to having received a substantial windfall in January 2024 due to the new property valuations.”
Mr. Flaiz moved that the Budget Commission authorize the Prosecutor’s Office to appeal the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) case 2021-1723 to the 10th District Court of Appeals. The motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Flaiz explained that the BTA case dates back from several years ago when Geauga Park District (GPD) appealed a Budget Commission action. The BTA issued its decision recently, and Mr. Flaiz said that “we identified some legal issues with that decision, so we're going to appeal it.” Observer Note: The full text of the BTA decision can be found here. Briefly, GPD alleged that during the 2022 Budget Hearings (held in 2021), the Budget Commission improperly reduced GPD’s budget by $1.92 million and treated GPD differently than other entities under the Budget Commission’s jurisdiction. The BTA found in GPD’s favor: “... we find the (Budget) Commission’s actions were arbitrary and unreasonable…. It is clear the Park District made mistakes, which it readily admits. In the past, the Commission has permitted the Park District to address those mistakes. But for some reason, not in this instance, despite multiple other political subdivisions making the same mistakes and receiving continuances and assistance in addressing those errors.” The BTA decision clears the way for GPD to submit a new proposed 2022 tax budget.
Mr. Hitchcock noted that publishing the delinquency list (a listing of individuals in the County who are behind on paying their property taxes) can be expensive and that there are numerous delinquencies of such a small amount of money that it may not be worth the cost of publishing them. Therefore, he proposed to the Auditor that all delinquencies of $1.99 or less should not be published. Mr. Walder said that about a month ago he and Mr. Hitchcock personally paid “a bunch of low-hanging fruit tax,” meaning property tax bills of very low amounts that were about to be sent out to Geauga property owners. Mr. Walder estimated that the total amount they paid was $50, and Mr. Hitchcock stated this saved the taxpayers from the $3.50 it costs to send out each individual tax bill. Mr. Hitchcock was uncertain how many tax bills fall into the $1.99 or less category or what the total amount was when all the small sums of owed money were added up, but he said he would have his staff find out. Mr. Walder said that he and Mr. Hitchcock can talk about the matter more once this information is known. Mr. Walder also stated that he would have his staff look into the statute on what the requirement is for publishing delinquent taxes before a decision could be reached.
Public Comment
This observer requested copies of all documents from the meeting, asked for the names of all meeting attendees not appearing on camera, and asked for clarification regarding the Board of Tax Appeals decision that the Budget Commission plans to appeal.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:14 am.
Next Meeting: The next Regular Meeting will be Monday, November 18, 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: 11/4/24
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