2026 Tax Rates Ratified; Russell Township Residents
in Chagrin Falls Schools District Have Highest Property Tax Rate
Budget Commission Meeting – January 8, 2026
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Special Session on Thursday, January 8, 2026 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. To attend Budget Commission meetings virtually via MS Teams, email an invitation request to Pam McMahan at PMcMahan@geauga.oh.gov.
Meeting Attendance: Prosecutor Jim Flaiz, Auditor Chuck Walder, and Chief Deputy Treasurer Caroline Mansfield (substituting for Treasurer Chris Hitchcock).
Staff Attendance: Deputy Auditor Kristen Sinatra, Chief Operations Officer Pam McMahan, ADP (Automatic Data Processing) Chief Deputy Administrator Frank Antenucci, and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kristen Rine (virtual).
County Staff: Geauga Public Health Finance Director Katie Taylor (virtual).
Members of the Public: This LWV Geauga Observer (virtual).
The meeting was called to order at 10:06 am.
Minutes: No minutes were ready for approval. Minutes, when approved, can be found here.
2026 Property Tax Rates
Mr. Walder stated that he had reviewed the property tax rates for calendar year 2026 and they are correct. Observer Note: At the December 30, 2025 Budget Commission meeting, there was discussion about whether or not there was a mistake in the tax rates, and Mr. Walder said he would examine them further. He pointed out that residents of Russell Township who live in the Chagrin Falls School District now have the highest property tax rate in Geauga County at 71.93 mills. Observer Note: According to the taxation rates provided to this observer, the three highest agricultural/residential tax rates in the county in terms of effective mills are Russell Township-Chagrin Falls Schools (71.93 mills), Bainbridge Township-Chagrin Falls Schools (70.65 mills), and South Russell Village-Chagrin Falls Schools (61.42 mills). The three lowest tax rates are Montville Township-Berkshire Schools (41.72 mills), Parkman Township-Cardinal Schools (41.87 mills), and Claridon Township-Berkshire Schools (42.56 mills).
The Budget Commission unanimously ratified the 2026 tax rates.
2026 Opening Fund Balances
The Budget Commissioners reviewed the Certificate of the Total Amount Available for Expenditures and Balances for all of Geauga County’s funds. Observer Note: This is simply a listing of the following: 1) the cash balance of each of the County’s numerous funds as of 12/31/2025, 2) the known encumbrances of each fund as of 12/31/25, and 3) the total amount of money available in each fund as of 1/1/2026 (which is calculated by subtracting the encumbrances from the cash balance). For example, in the County’s General Fund, the cash balance as of 12/31/2025 is $16,901,299.67, the encumbrance amount as of 12/31/25 is $2,647,640.82, and the total amount of cash available as of 1/1/2026 is $14,253,658.85. Mr. Walder stated that Ms. Sinatra will be creating another version of this list that includes the balance amount of each fund 12 months ago. Mr. Flaiz asked about the American Rescue Plan fund’s unencumbered balance of over $1 million. Mr. Walder said all of the money wasn’t “captured” in an encumbrance but instead this was done via a resolution. He stated that all of the American Rescue Plan money has indeed been “captured” and has to be expended by the end of 2026. Ms. McMahan noted that some of the projects funded by this money haven’t even been started yet.
The Budget Commission voted unanimously to accept the Certificate of the Total Amount Available for Expenditures and Balances as of January 1, 2026 for all of Geauga County’s funds.
The following Revenue Certificates were approved:
Reviewer Note: An explanation of the different types of funds in revenue certifications can be found
here. Observer Note: The Budget Commission requests that all entities provide beginning balances for all funds within 90 days of the start of the year. The following are certifications of the 2026 beginning
balances for each entity below:
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Geauga County - Amendment #1. $62,179,557.81 in the general fund, $112,895,852.94 in special revenue funds, $5,217,541.26 in debt service funds, $1,145,055.59 in special assessment funds, $18,860,648.14 in capital project funds, $32,304,589.52 in enterprise funds, $1,751,515.64 in internal service funds, and $3,783,883.29 in fiduciary funds for a total of $238,138,644.19.
This amendment certified Geauga County’s beginning balances for 2026. Ms. Sinatra noted that this also included two revenue certifications for the Common Pleas Court that were already approved by the Commissioners this year.
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Geauga Public Health - Amendment #1. $2,638,439.99 in the general fund and $5,894,298.43 in special revenue funds for a total of $8,532,738.42.
This amendment certified Geauga Public Health’s beginning balances for 2026.
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Geauga Trumbull Solid Waste - Amendment #1. $5,329,388.89 in the general fund only for a total of $5,329,388.89.
This amendment certified Geauga Trumbull Solid Waste’s beginning balance for 2026.
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Burton Village - Amendment #1. $1,899,963.73 in the general fund, $2,097,141.88 in special revenue funds, $623,869.32 in capital project funds, $51,406.03 in special assessment funds, $4,210,744.03 in enterprise funds, and $167,377.35 in fiduciary funds for a total of $9,050,502.34.
This amendment certified Burton Village’s beginning balances for 2026.
This amendment certified Thompson Park District’s beginning balance for 2026.
Discussion:
Mr. Walder asked if any school budgets had been submitted. Ms. Sinatra said none had been received yet.
Mr. Walder said he would be conducting training for other auditors around the state regarding their role on the Budget Commissions for their respective counties. He noted that numerous auditors around the state have reached out for guidance on how to conduct Budget Hearings because many Budget Commissions that had not been holding Budget Hearings will begin doing so this year. Observer Note: Legislation expanding the role of County Budget Commissions has recently been enacted in Ohio, which has caused some Budget Commissions that had not previously conducted Budget Hearings to start doing so this year. More information is available here.
Mr. Walder noted that there wasn’t much time before the School Budget Hearings needed to be conducted, which makes it logistically difficult for inexperienced Budget Commissions to figure out the Budget Hearing process in time. Mr. Flaiz clarified that school budgets must be submitted by January 20, and Mr. Walder added that the School Budget Hearing process must be completed by March 1. Mr. Walder said he thought many people around the state would be watching the Geauga Budget Commission this year to learn how they conduct Budget Hearings.
Mr. Flaiz said no other prosecutors have reached out to him for advice on how to conduct Budget Hearings yet. He found it problematic that many Budget Commission members in other Ohio counties lack the “depth of knowledge” needed to conduct Budget Hearings. There was much discussion about all of the expertise and experience that goes into making Geauga’s Budget Hearings run well, with many kudos given to the Budget Commission staff. Mr. Walder said he wished that Geauga’s school districts were being approached so that others around the state could learn about the process of coming before the Budget Commission for a Budget Hearing.
Mr. Walder asked Ms. Mansfield if Mr. Hitchcock had mentioned what tax collection rate he was predicting for 2026. Ms. Mansfield said he was still working on it, and Ms. Sinatra said it was on the agenda for the next Budget Commission meeting. Mr. Walder noted that Geaugans can roughly estimate their property taxes using REALink and said that calls from citizens concerned about their property taxes are primarily from Russell Township residents. He said this was due to “... two anomalies. One is we suppressed $2.35 million worth of (property tax) money from West G the year before. It’s coming back on now- that's one anomaly. The second anomaly is they passed - by 37 votes - their police levy for a million dollars….” Mr. Flaiz and Mr. Walder discussed that this worked out to be “a lot of money” per individual Russell resident/property owner since there are only about 5,000 Russell citizens. Mr. Walder said he would be reaching out to Russell Township Administrator Melissa Palmer to say “... we're handling these calls (from Russell residents concerned about high property taxes, but we would like to give people an opportunity to, if they're concerned about something, to talk to the body that put those taxes on…. Who do you want us to direct them to?” He said that he would “... do something similar with the schools,” but he noted that they aren’t getting as many calls about school levies.
Mr. Walder noted that West Geauga’s two emergency levies are still in place for now. Observer Note: West Geauga’s 2.95 mill emergency levy collecting $3.7 million per year expires in 2026, and its 1.87 mill emergency levy collecting $2.35 million per year expires in 2029. He said that there is a “loophole” in House Bill 129 allowing emergency levies passed before 2026 to be put up for renewal by the voters once as a fixed sum levy for up to five years. He stated that the Ohio Legislature has passed five major House Bills (House Bills 124, 129, 186, 309, and 335) that must be rolled into property tax calculations in the next year, and this will result in “... a credit on everyone's (property) tax applied to the second half (of the year collection).”
Mr. Walder said that they will be providing statistics at Board of Revision hearings this year to show people the levies approved by the community they live in to explain what makes up their property taxes. Mr. Flaiz pointed out that “the only direct citizen democratic taxing method are the property taxes. Everything else is imposed by your elected representatives.” Mr. Walder concurred, with the caveat that inside millage and 20 mill floor adjustments are property taxes that are not voted upon.
Public Comment:
This observer asked what time the ADP Board meeting would take place on January 12, 2026. Mr. Walder said the Organizational Meeting would take place at 2:00, with a Regular Meeting immediately following. This observer also requested a copy of all materials from the meeting, which were received by this observer via email on January 8, 2026.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:54 am.
Next Meeting: The next Budget Commission meeting will be a Special Meeting for regular business on January 22, 2025 at 10:00 am. Virtual attendance for all Budget Commission meetings is available via Microsoft Teams by emailing an invitation request to Ms. McMahan at PMcMahan@geauga.oh.gov.
Observer: Sarah McGlone
Editor: Rooney Moy
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
Submitted: January 12, 2026
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