Budget Commission Approves Tax Rates for 2025
Budget Commission Meeting – January 15, 2025
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Special Session on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 9:00 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, Treasurer Chris Hitchcock, and Auditor Chuck Walder.
Staff Attendance: Chief Deputy Auditor Ron Leyde, Deputy Auditors Tammy Most and Kristen Sinatra, Chief Operations Officer Pam McMahan and Chief Compliance Officer Kate Jacob.
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 9:01 am.
Minutes: Minutes from the Regular Meeting on January 6, 2025 were approved and will be available here when published.
2024 Tax Rates (Collection Year 2025):
The 2024 Tax Rates (Collection Year 2025) were approved by the Budget Commission. The highest 2024 total tax rate is 170.630 mills for residents of Bainbridge Township - Chagrin Falls School District. The lowest 2024 total tax rate is 77.980 mills for residents of Newbury Township - West Geauga School District. Generally speaking, 2024 tax rates were similar to those the year before.
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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Geauga County - Amendment #1. $69,339,402.59 in the general fund, $120,627,009.50 in special revenue funds, $5,172,649.58 in debt service funds, $1,143,702.06 in special assessment funds, $16,726,517.01 in capital project funds, $52,169,898.85 in enterprise funds, $1,739,600.37 in internal service funds, and $4,706,706.85 in fiduciary funds for a total of $271,625,486.81.
This amendment certified Geauga County’s beginning balances for 2025. This amendment was previously tabled at the January 6, 2025 Budget Commission Meeting due to problems with the balances of two funds; Mr. Walder noted that the issues with these funds have now been corrected.
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Geauga Public Health - Amendment #2. $2,446,292.83 in the general fund and $5,127,154.97 in special revenue funds for a total of $7,573,447.80.
This amendment adjusted Geauga Public Health’s beginning balances for 2025 to reflect tax revenue updates.
Discussion on Dormant Funds:
The Auditor’s Office staff presented the Budget Commissioners with a list of numerous funds that have shown no change in the account balances for a period of at least two years. Mr. Walder said that these funds may be “... dormant and hold money for prolonged periods of time, year after year after year, and there's even some that have zeros in them.” He stated his intention to “clean up” these funds, starting with having his staff investigate when the last activity occurred in each fund. Mr. Walder stated that dormant funds cannot be gotten rid of legally, but if they are able to determine that funds are truly dormant, they can start removing them from reports, making it easier to track funds that are truly active.
Mr. Walder noted that “by paring down this list (of dormant funds) with some of the nonsense ones going away, we'll have better vision onto the ones that are perhaps not being utilized to their best possible advantage.” Mr. Hitchcock mentioned that a sick and vacation fund set up by the County Commissioners that has had a balance of $400,000 for at least two years is one such fund that could be better utilized. Mr. Walder said “I think there are funds that were created with great intention. This is one of them. The question is, has anybody ever tapped that fund for that purpose? And if not, then it's only a mechanism to shelter money. It's not a mechanism of value.” Mr. Walder estimated that it will take a year to clean up the dormant funds.
Public Comment:
This observer requested a copy of all documents from this meeting, which were provided via email on January 15, 2025. This observer also invited any interested meeting attendees to come to a LWVG informational program on the Electoral College offered that evening at 6:30pm at the Library Administrative Center.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:35 am.
Next Meeting: Due to the Martin Luther King Day holiday, the next meeting will be a Special Meeting on Thursday, January 23, 2025 at 10:00 am in the Auditor's Conference Room, 215 Main Street, Chardon, Ohio.
Observer: Sarah McGlone
Editor and Reviewer: Gail Roussey
Submitted: 01/16/2025
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