Budget Commission Regular Meeting – February 5, 2024
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Regular Session on Monday, February 5, 2024 at 10:00am 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, Prosecutor Jim Flaiz, and Chief Deputy Treasurer Caroline Mansfield (substituting for Treasurer Chris Hitchcock).
Staff Attendance: Chief Deputy Auditor Ron Leyde, Deputy Auditors Tammy Most and Kristen Sinatra, and Fiscal Office Manager Pam McMahan.
County Staff: Geauga County Budget and Finance Manager Adrian Gorton (virtual).
Others in Attendance: This observer (virtual).
The meeting was called to order at 10:00am.
Minutes: Minutes from the Special Meeting on January 18, 2024 were approved without discussion.
The following Revenue Certifications were approved:
Observer Note: The Budget Commission requests that all entities provide beginning balances for all funds within 90 days of the start of the year. Most of the following amendments are simply certifications of fund beginning balances for 2024.
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Geauga Park District (GPD) - Amendment #1 - $10,745,582.16 in the general fund and $1,661,745.68 in capital project funds for a total of $12,407,327.84. This amendment certified GPD’s beginning balances for 2024.
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Montville Township - Amendment #1. $367,506.76 in the general fund, $1,526,920.04 in special revenue funds, and $215.65 in fiduciary funds for a total of $1,894,642.45. This amendment certified Montville Township’s beginning balances for 2024.
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Chester Township - Amendment #2. $3,123,738.19 in the general fund, $11,217,201.64 in special revenue funds, $5,032.00 in capital project funds, and $13,011.99 in special assessment funds for a total of $14,358,983.82. Chester Township’s amendment corrected funds being attributed to the police levy fund that should have gone to the fire levy fund. Special revenue funds and the total certificate amount were unchanged.
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Munson Township - Amendment #1. $1,827,632.58 in the general fund, $3,573,143.79 in special revenue funds, and $5,000.00 in fiduciary funds for a total of $5,405,776.37. This amendment certified Munson Township’s beginning balances for 2024.
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Burton Village - Amendment #1. $2,357,267.23 in the general fund, $2,043,775.15 in special revenue funds, $760,770.27 in capital project funds, $62,318.96 in special assessment funds, $4,505,321.65 in enterprise funds, and $127,315.00 in fiduciary funds for a total of $9,856,768.26. This amendment certified Burton Villages’s beginning balances for 2024.
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Auburn Township - Amendment #1. $1,017,414.90 in the general fund, $4,580,996.37 in special revenue funds, $214,688.00 in debt service funds, and $143,954.45 in capital project funds for a total of $5,957,053.72. This amendment certified Auburn Township’s beginning balances for 2024.
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West Geauga Recreation District - Amendment #1. $108,487.16 in the general fund and $43,102.93 in capital project funds for a total of $151,590.09. This amendment certified West Geauga Recreation District’s beginning balances for 2024.
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Bainbridge Township - Amendment #1. $4,230,348.65 in the general fund, $18,609,368.46 in special revenue funds, $2,015,383.34 in debt service funds, $1,703,940.76 in capital project funds, and $539.02 in fiduciary funds for a total of $26,559,580.23. This amendment certified Bainbridge Township’s beginning balances for 2024.
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South Russell Village - Amendment #1. $1,873,997.81 in the general fund, $6,932,820.03 in special revenue funds, $1,200,330.46 in capital project funds, and $210,299.54 in fiduciary funds for a total of $10,217,447.84. This amendment certified South Russell Village’s beginning balances for 2024.
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Troy Township - Amendment #1. $435,344.24 in the general fund and $2,166,664.61 in special revenue funds for a total of $2,602,008.85. This amendment certified Troy Township’s beginning balances for 2024.
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Geauga County - Amendment #2. $54,612,226.17 in the general fund, $123,528,485.24 in special revenue funds, $5,572,596.38 in debt service funds, $1,256,502.32 in special assessment funds, $28,703,581.61 in capital project funds, $16,543,131.34 in enterprise funds, $1,439,886.67 in internal service funds, and $4,138,083.61 in fiduciary funds for a total of $235,794,493.34. This amendment reflected a revenue certification in the transportation fund of $3,757.21. Mr. Gorton stated this revenue was a tax reimbursement from the State. He explained that this was required as part of the process of getting rid of the transportation capital improvement fund. Mr. Gorton said that that process should be wrapped up in the next few weeks.
The following previously approved Revenue Certifications were re-signed due to formula errors:
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City of Chardon - Amendment #1. $12,373,825.82 in the general fund, $9,643,008.21 in special revenue funds, $372,412.54 in debt service funds, $7,347,052.18 in capital project funds, $7,395,737.57 in enterprise funds, $8,054.18 in internal service funds, and $186,201.12 in fiduciary funds for a total of $37,326,291.62.
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Geauga County Public Library (GCPL) - Amendment # 1. $13,624,744.69 in the general fund, $1,747,984.11 in debt service funds, and $13,572,351.88 in capital project funds for a total of $28,945,080.68.
The Revenue Certification requested by Geauga Public Health District (GPHD) was tabled.
Mr. Walder stated that GPHD is “...amending all of their revenues and expenditures,” and has a new person (not identified) helping them. The Budget Commissioners scheduled a Special Meeting for Thursday, February 8 at 12:00pm to consider GPHD’s amendment as well as any other regular business.
Discussion on Ohio House Bill 331 (HB331):
The Budget Commissioners discussed HB331, which is legislation currently in Committee in the Ohio House of Representatives. Mr. Walder stated that this bill would create a series of required tests for villages; they would be required to provide at least five services, such as police, fire-fighting, garbage collection, and road maintenance, to taxpayers. Mr. Flaiz said that, in addition to providing at least five services to taxpayers, villages also must also have had at least one candidate appearing on the ballot for each elected village position under HB331. He explained that if a Budget Commission finds that either of the criteria (five services provided or a candidate on the ballot for each elected village position) have not been met over the approximate 10 year period after the Census, a ballot issue would automatically be created regarding dissolving the village. The Budget Commissioners noted that they would be tasked with making sure both HB331 criteria are met by Geauga County villages should this bill become law. Mr. Walder said: “I think the message they're sending, which I agree with, they're moving the decision to the people. They are leaving it out of the hands of the electeds (elected officials), and it's moving it to the people. So the electeds can't force the existence of something; the people have to desire it. So, (if) the people vote (for it), they get another 10 years.”
Public Comment:
This observer confirmed that the School Budget Hearings on February 27 and 28 will be held in the Auditor’s Conference Room and asked if the Board of Revision (BOR) would meet on February 28 and if so at what time? Mr. Walder stated that the BOR meeting may occur in the afternoon of February 28, but the meeting has not officially been scheduled yet. This observer also asked if the school budgets and revenue information had been posted on the web yet as discussed at the January 18 Budget Commission meeting. Mr. Walder responded that this information was not up yet, but he hoped it would be in the next week or so.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 am.
More Information and Posted Minutes: Available on Auditor website
Next Meeting: Special Meeting on February 8, 2024 at 12:00 pm in the Auditor’s Conference Room at 215 Main Street, Chardon, Ohio.
Observer: Sarah McGlone
Editor: Anne Ondrey
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
Submitted: 2/6/24
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