Budget Commission Special Meeting – February 8, 2024
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Special Session on Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 12:00pm 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 Treasurer Chris Hitchcock.
Staff Attendance: Chief Deputy Auditor Ron Leyde, Deputy Auditors Tammy Most and Kristen Sinatra, Fiscal Office Manager Pam McMahan, and Chief Compliance Officer Kate Jacob (virtual).
County Staff: Geauga County Budget and Finance Manager Adrian Gorton (virtual).
Observer Note: Due to technical issues, this observer was unable to attend this meeting. However, the Auditor's Office Staff provided a video recording of the meeting, and this report is based on that.
The meeting was called to order at 12:01pm.
Minutes: No minutes were discussed.
The following previously approved Revenue Certification was re-signed:
Munson Township - Amendment #1. $1,827,632.58 in the general fund, $3,567,918.64 in special revenue funds, and $10,225.15 in fiduciary funds for a total of $5,405,776.37.
Munson’s amendment that was approved at the February 5, 2024 Budget Commission meeting had to be re-signed due to some revenue being attributed to special revenue funds that belonged in fiduciary funds; the total revenue amount was unchanged.
The following Revenue Certifications were approved:
Kenston Local School District - Amendment #2. $49,001,187.14 in the general fund, $2,136,054.60 in special revenue funds, $6,762,090.20 in debt service funds, $1,308,226.40 in capital project funds, $2,174,805.72 in enterprise funds, $9,549,225.48 in internal service funds, and $70,874.22 in fiduciary funds for a total of $71,002,463.76. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Kenston’s amendment reflected increases in both special revenue and capital projects funds. Mr.
Walder remarked at the district’s large amount of revenue, noting that it alone was as much as a third of the revenue of the entire county. Mr. Hitchcock asked for information on how much Kenston’s inside millage windfall (due to property value increases) was and how much of it was given back to taxpayers; Mr. Walder stated that Kenston received an inside millage windfall of approximately $1.2 million dollars, of which he said none was returned to taxpayers.
Chardon Township - Amendment #1. $756,718.66 in the general fund, $2,762,558.66 in special revenue funds, $55,909.80 in debt service funds, and $704.50 in fiduciary funds for a total of $3,575,891.62. Temporary appropriations do not exceed revenue.
This amendment certified Chardon Township’s beginning balances for 2024.
Russell Township - Amendment #1. $2,466,250.43 in the general fund, $9,194,797.50 in special revenue funds, and $2,897,392.65 in capital project funds for a total of $14,558,440.58. Temporary appropriations do not exceed revenue.
This amendment certified Russell Township’s beginning balances for 2024.
Geauga County Health District - Amendment #2. $3,013,800.74 in the general fund and $4,748,184.74 in special revenue funds for a total of $7,761,985.48. Appropriations do not exceed revenue. Observer Note: This amendment was tabled at the last Budget Commission meeting (Observer Report available at the link above), but it was approved at this meeting. Reviewer Note: The name used at present for this entity is Geauga Public Health (GPH), but Geauga County Health District is the entity name listed on the Revenue Certification.
This amendment reflects an Increase in the general fund of $1,086,286.62 and changes in three different special revenue funds resulting in a net negative adjustment of $71,700. The special revenue funds with changes were not specified; Ms. Sinatra stated that they did “a lot of de-certifying.” Mr. Walder said that “their (previous) budget submission was not anywhere close to how they were going to operate,” and this submission reflects “adjustments to beginning (balances)- they moved money around, in essence.” Mr. Leyde stated that GPH now has someone from Lake County Health District assisting with financial matters.
After approving the amended Revenue Certification of Geauga Public Health (GPH), the Budget Commission voted to acknowledge the following GPH Supplemental Appropriations:
Mr. Flaiz observed that “it looks like they’re taking the salaries way down, and increasing the contract services, so basically they’re trying to shuffle the money around to pay Lake County because they’re the ones employing all the people.”
Discussion
Invitations for Budget Hearings/Reviews
A Budget Hearing Invitation was sent to Geauga Public Health. It will occur on April 15 at 10:00am.
Levied Departments Budget Review Meeting invitations were sent to all levied departments. The Budget Reviews will take place on March 18 at 10:00am at the Geauga County Administration Building.
School Budget Hearings
The Budget Commissioners will attempt to change the location of the School Budget Hearings on February 27 and 28 to the Geauga County Administration Building to accommodate anticipated high attendance from the public. Auditor’s Office staff members will check to see if the County Administration Building is available, and if so they will send out new meeting notices with the updated location information. Observer Note: On February 12, Auditor’s Office Staff confirmed via email to this observer that the School Budget Hearings have been moved to the Geauga County Administration Building, and new meeting notices were sent out. Virtual meeting attendance information is available by contacting Fiscal Office Manager Pam McMahan at pmcmahan@gcauditor.com.
West Geauga New Educational Complex and School District Cash Balances
Mr. Walder said that he doesn’t “understand the logic behind the timing that I’m hearing in the stories I read in the paper about new initiatives like building new buildings in light of everything that’s going on.” He mentioned reading in the Geauga Maple Leaf about West Geauga Schools considering a $86 million bond for a new complex. Mr. Walder opined that “taxpayers can’t afford it” and noted that West G is “sitting on $28 million, getting $4.5 more million (due to the property reval), and now you want $86 more million. When does it end?” He went on to say that “I’m afraid that their logic is going to be, we’re going to justify this huge cash balance by this future plan to build a new building. You should not be taking money from people in advance of them approving a project.” Mr. Flaiz responded “that’s not going to cut it with me” and added “maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like a concerted effort, an organized effort, to demonstrate need to us because they’re sitting on these piles of cash, and the ‘we might need to do something in the future’ I don’t think legally cuts it (as a justification for having so much cash on hand).” Mr. Walder noted that West Geauga’s plan to build a new educational complex is based on a “hypothetical ability of getting money for a hypothetical expenditure that is in the early stages of discussion while you’re sitting on cash. It doesn’t jive with me.” Mr. Hitchcock said that “it’s a game they’re playing with taxpayers’ money.” Mr. Walder stated that “they just don’t have any sensitivity to taxpayers bleeding (money).” Observer Note: The West Geauga Board of Education voted to approve the construction of a new campus for grades 6-12 at their January 31, 2024 meeting.
This segued into a more general discussion of the cash balances of Geauga County school districts. Mr. Walder observed that some districts have“this huge backlog of extra cash that they’ve been accumulating. I just can’t swallow any more, regardless of the school's excessive cash balances for taxpayers’ 20 years in the future expenditures.” Mr. Walder described a meeting he had that morning with a couple from Newbury who were upset about school districts being able to hold high cash balances year after year, saying “their comment I think really hit me. They said ‘they (the school districts) shouldn’t have been allowed to accumulate it, then to make the plan (for what to do with the money).’ She said ‘you know what’s going to happen, as soon as you call them on it, they’re going to create a plan.’ ”
Mr. Flaiz said all he heard about at a recent public event was the increased property taxes people are facing. He said one taxpayer told him that the only people who know about this now are “old people'' who have paid off their mortgages and therefore pay their property taxes themselves. This person thought that most people don’t know about their increased taxes yet because their taxes are paid by the bank that holds their mortgage. However, later this year when mortgage payments go up due to escrow adjustment, this citizen predicted that complaints will increase greatly. Mr. Walder noted that mortgage holders will realize that their property taxes increased this summer, which will coincide with school issues gearing up for the November ballot. He expressed the opinion that “people are going to tear these schools apart” because they didn’t do anything to reduce their inside millage windfall while the County and most local government entities did. Mr. Hitchcock predicted that “they will learn the voters’ wrath.” Observer Note: West Geauga did give back to taxpayers $1 million of their 20 mill floor adjustment/inside millage windfall, which was approximately $4.5 million in total. More information about the 20 mill floor is available in the November 20, 2023 Budget Commission report.
Distribution Percentage
Ms. Sinatra told the Budget Commissioners that the ISSG software that is used to create real estate tax bills defaults automatically to a 80% distribution rather than 90%. There was discussion about whether the Auditor or the Treasurer should set the percentage, and more research will be done to decide the issue. Auditor’s Office Staff will reach out to ISSG to find out if the distribution percentage takes into account fees.
Public Comments were solicited, but none were offered.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 12:35pm.
More Information and Posted Minutes: Available on Auditor website
Next Meeting: Special Meetings for the School Budget Hearings and Regular Business on February 27 and 28, 2024, both beginning at 9:00am at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite A333-A334, Chardon, Ohio.
Observer: Sarah McGlone
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
Submitted: 2/12/24
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