Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in emergency session on Thursday, December 22, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. in the Auditor’s Conference Room at 215 Main Street, Chardon, Ohio. This meeting was in person with a virtual option via MS Teams.
Meeting Attendance: Auditor Chuck Walder and Prosecutor James Flaiz. Treasurer Chris Hitchcock was absent.
Staff Attendance: Deputy Auditors Tammy Most and Kristen Sinatra
County Representatives: Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Finance Director Adrian Gorton
Action Items: reviewed these requests, all for county departments.
Revenue Certification:
De-Certifications:
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Sheriff’s department – $425,000 decrease in previously certified concealed carry license and permit fees totaling $510,000. Due to a recent change in Ohio law, this revenue stream is now defunct.
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Juvenile Court CASA - $159,000
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Water Resources - $4.4 million for various projects, including Bainbridge and Chardon Township, that were paid from alternate revenue sources
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Engineer’s Office - $925,000 for projects paid from alternate revenue sources
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Transit - $52,802 for projects paid from alternate revenue sources
Observer Note: alternate revenue sources typically include grants and ARPA funds
Before taking action, Mr. Flaiz and Mr. Walder expressed multiple concerns about BOCC actions and their budgetary process.
Mr. Flaiz inquired as to why the requests were all lumped together and what would happen if they wanted to deny any of them. It was stated that if that happened there would have to be a revised certificate.
Mr. Walder noted inconsistent processes and decision making by BOCC, specifically:
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ADP is overperforming in terms of budget accuracy but that other departments are asking for more than needed and then being granted decertifications.
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During final appropriations, BOCC took $240,000 from the ADP salary line with no explanation. In contrast, he noted that the Sheriff’s Department requested $700,000 over 3 years but BOCC approved the entire amount for one year.
Mr. Walder commented that in voting for these measures he is taking a chance that the BOCC will grant supplemental amounts if ADP needs them.
Mr. Flaiz opined that the BOCC may have violated the Open Public Meeting Act. He noted that he has never seen a salary line item removed in this way and he wondered what will happen in October when there isn’t enough to pay the employees. He commented that the budgetary system has a timeline in which the Budget Commission approves the budget which is sent to the State of Ohio. He says then the Commissioners grant supplementals.
Mr. Gorton commented that The Dragos Contract was an issue in the BOCC decision.
Mr. Walder reviewed the history of the Dragos contract (to investigate a shut down of the Bainbridge Plant) and that Water Resources offered to pay this but then Mr. Morgan (Geauga County Administrator) said that they would not. Mr. Walder stated that this necessitated taking the money out of a different account. He stated that ADP had to protect the county’s security and had no choice.
Mr. Gorton asked if the salary will be needed because in his opinion the line item was removed for positions that were proposed but not filled. He said this was done at the December 6 BOCC meeting in which the Final Appropriations Budget for 2023 was approved.
Mr. Walder responded that the positions have been filled – one worker was promoted into the position during the summer and another worker was hired last week. He stated his frustration “Who wants to work under threat of not having the money in the budget to get paid?”
Motion passed to approve the certification and the de-certifications.
Public comment
This observer asked about the total for Water Resources (amounts reflected in report above). Also this observer asked about when the $240,000 was removed from the ADP salary line. Mr. Gorton stated it was done at the December 6th meeting.
Observer Note: As noted in the LWVG Observer Report for the Dec 6, 2022 BOCC meeting, at the December 6th meeting Mr. Gorton presented a PowerPoint presentation about the final Budget Appropriations for 2023. The PowerPoint was general in nature and only listed a total figure for ADP of $1,162,104. There were no line item break-downs for any departments although the Commissioners appeared to have a much longer document. A public records request would be necessary to obtain this information.
A reporter from the Chagrin Valley Times asked if she could follow up later.
More Information and Posted Minutes: Available on Auditor website
Next Meeting: January 29th at 10 am
Name of Observers: Gail Roussey
Name of Reviewer: Shelly Lewis
Submitted 12/23/2022
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