Budget Commission Will Have Special Meeting on December 30, 2024 for Year-End Business
Budget Commission Meeting – December 16, 2024
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Regular Session on Monday, December 16, 2024 at 10:00 am in the Auditor's Conference Room, 215 Main Street, Chardon, Ohio. The meeting was in person with a virtual attendance option via MS Teams.
Meeting Attendance: Prosecutor Jim Flaiz (arriving at 10:04 am), Treasurer Chris Hitchcock, and Automatic Data Processing Chief Deputy Administrator Frank Antenucci (substituting for 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 10:02 am.
Minutes: Minutes from the Special Meeting on December 4, 2024 were approved by Mr. Hitchcock and Mr. Flaiz. Mr. Antenucci abstained because he was not present at the December 4, 2024 meeting. The minutes 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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Parkman Township - Amendment #2. $778,059.31 in the general fund, $2,055,303.74 in special revnue funds, $12,968.71 in special assessment funds, and $14,759.00 in fiduciary funds for a total of $2,861,090.76. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Parkman’s amendment certified an increase of $3,145.16 in their ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) special revenue fund.
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South Russell Village - Amendment #9. $1,898,321.81 in the general fund, $7,950,074.11 in special revenue funds, $1,723,512.87 in capital project funds, and $210,299.54 in fiduciary funds for a total of $11,782,208.33. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
South Russell’s amendment reflected an increase (amount not stated) in special revenue funds.
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Munson Township - Amendment #5. $1,826,205.45 in the general fund, $4,169,101.82 in special revenue funds, and $2,102.71 in special assessment funds for a total of $5,997,409.98. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Munson Township’s amendment reflected an increase of $60,000 in the ambulance and emergency medical services special revenue fund and an increase of $72.71 in special assessment funds for demolition expenses.
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Geauga County - Amendment #12. $54,612,226.17 in the general fund, $129,526,439.27 in special revenue funds, $5,572,596.38 in debt service funds, $1,256,502.32 in special assessment funds, $29,133,410.77 in capital project funds, $15,161,930.52 in enterprise funds, $1,445,078.56 in internal service funds, and $4,130,882.52 in fiduciary funds for a total of $240,839,066.51.
Geauga County’s amendment certified decreases in several funds: - $223,796.05 in special revenue funds, - $199,758 in capital project funds, - $1,550,000 in enterprise funds, - $4,808.11 internal service funds, and - $7,201.09 in fiduciary funds. Mr. Gorton explained that all of these decreases are essentially “housekeeping, fund balancing stuff” for the end of the year.
Discussion
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Property Tax Mitigation: Mr. Hitchcock noted that County entities were now out of time for any property tax mitigation requests to be considered by the Budget Commission, and Mr. Flaiz stated that he thought there were few such requests this year. Mr. Hitchcock requested a presentation quantifying this year’s mitigation requests compared to last year’s at the next Budget Commission meeting and said “My concern is this (fewer mitigation requests) equates into an increase for all the taxpayers, without their knowledge.” Observer Note: Please see the December 4, 2023 Budget Commission Observer Report for information on last year’s property tax mitigation by County entities.
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Special Meeting on December 30, 2024: The Budget Commissioners discussed whether the previously scheduled Special Meeting on December 30, 2024 for any year-end business was needed. Mr. Gorton stated that the County likely would have a revenue certification to be considered at this time, so the Special Meeting will be conducted as scheduled.
Public Comment
This observer requested a copy of all revenue certifications from this meeting, which were provided via email on December 17, 2024.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:14 am.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be a Special Meeting on Monday, December 30, 2024 at 10:00 am in the Auditor's Conference Room, 215 Main Street, Chardon, Ohio.
Observer: Sarah McGlone
Editor: Anne Ondrey
Reviewer: Carol Benton
Submitted: 12/17/24
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