Budget Commission to Hold Property Tax Education Session on May 4 in Claridon
Budget Commission Meeting – April 20, 2026
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Regular Session on Monday, April 20, 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, Treasurer Chris Hitchcock, and Auditor Chuck Walder.
Staff Attendance: Deputy Auditors Tina Kloski, Kristen Sinatra and Jennifer Hess, Auditor’s Office Chief Operations Officer Pam McMahan, and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kristen Rine (virtual).
County Staff: Geauga County Budget and Finance Manager Adrian Gorton (virtual) and Geauga Public Health Finance Director Katie Taylor (virtual).
Members of the Public: This LWV Geauga Observer (virtual).
The meeting was called to order at 10:03 am.
Minutes: No Minutes were presented for approval. Budget Commission Minutes can be found here when posted.
The following Revenue Certificates were approved:
Reviewer Note: An explanation of the different types of funds in revenue certifications can be found
here.
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Berkshire Local Schools - Amendment #7. $25,598,960.02 in the general fund, $4,504,792.75 in special revenue funds, $1,654,189.22 in debt service funds, $722,624.59 in capital project funds, $956,363.63 in enterprise funds, $549,009.57 in internal service funds, and $197,472.01 in fiduciary funds for a total of $34,183,411.79.
Berkshire’s amendment certified increases in the general fund, special revenue funds, debt service funds, enterprise funds, and internal service funds.
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Newbury Township - Amendment #3. $1,798,676.00 in the general fund, $4,164,202.09 in special revenue funds, $364,145.93 in debt service funds, $1,008,279.78 in capital project funds, and $1,535.64 in special assessment funds for a total of $7,336,839.44.
Newbury Township’s amendment certified an increase in capital project funds.
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Chardon Township - Amendment #2. $1,436,593.02 in the general fund, $3,396,309.68 in special revenue funds, $197,371.17 in debt service funds, $350,000.00 in capital project funds, and $838.27 in fiduciary funds for a total of $5,381,112.14.
Chardon Township’s amendment certified an increase in special revenue funds.
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Geauga County - Amendment #5. $62,179,557.81 in the general fund, $113,025,852.94 in special revenue funds, $5,217,541.26 in debt service funds, $1,145,055.59 in special assessment funds, $23,544,048.14 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 $242,952,044.19.
Geauga County’s amendment certified an increase in capital project funds.
Other Business:
Mr. Walder asked Geauga Public Health Finance Director Katie Taylor how “fixing stuff from last year” was going. She was unable to respond at this time due to audio problems with her computer, but the matter was discussed later during Public Comment (see this section below) once the technical difficulties were resolved.
Discussion:
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Schedule for the Annual Tax Budget Hearings: The schedule for the annual Tax Budget Hearings on August 17 and 18 was approved by the Budget Commissioners (see below for details). The staff asked when the Budget Commission would like to have the materials for these Budget Hearings from the entities. Mr. Walder said that the budgets are due by July 20. The staff also asked about when the Budget Commission wants to have the additional information they requested during the Levied Departments Budget Reviews, and the response was early August in advance of the county’s Budget Hearing. The only items that the Budget Commissioners specifically stated they wanted updates on in August were: 1) whether or not the Department on Aging has taken action on purchasing the new senior center and 2) updated cash balances for the Engineer’s Office as well as how much progress the Engineer’s Office has made in filling its vacant positions.
The 2027 Budget Hearing Schedule was approved as follows:
Monday, August 17, 2026
9:00 am
Thompson Township & Thompson Park
Bainbridge Township
Troy Township
Chardon Township
Burton Township
Montville Township
10:00 am
Claridon Township
Parkman Township
Chester Township
Hambden Township
Munson Township
West Geauga Recreation District
Lunch at approximately 12:15 pm.
1:15 pm
Newbury Township
Huntsburg Township
Middlefield Township
Auburn Township
Geauga Trumbull Solid Waste
Geauga County
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
9:00 am
Russell Park 1545
Chester Park
Russell Citizens Park
Geauga Library
City of Chardon
Burton Village
Burton Library
9:45 am
Middlefield Village & East Geauga Fire
South Russell Village
Geauga Park District
Russell Township
All 2027 Budget Hearings will take place in the Auditor’s Appraisal Conference Room.
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Property Tax Issues:
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Mr. Walder informed the other Budget Commissioners that there will be an Ideastream Public Media series on property tax issues this summer. He said he was attending the off the record preliminary meeting for the series later this month but was uncertain about who all has been invited to attend.
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Mr. Walder also stated that the abolish property tax movement would be holding a press conference on Thursday, April 23. He said that the reason for the press conference was unknown, but it might be about either: 1) the number of signatures they have gathered on their petition to put an amendment to the Ohio Constitution eliminating property taxes on the ballot or 2) they may be “... going to threaten the legislature…. (They may be) going to go after certain people running, because they haven't done anything (on property taxes).” Reviewer Note: At the press conference, the property tax abolishment group stated that they were about halfway to their goal for signature collection. They said that they had collected about 305,000 signatures, and their goal is 620,000 by mid-June. More information is available here.
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Mr. Walder said that there would be a Special Budget Commission Meeting on May 4 at 6:30 pm at the Claridon Township Administration Building for the purpose of providing a property tax education session for the public. It was stated that this would likely be similar to the property tax education sessions jointly put on by LWVG, the Auditor’s Office, and the Geauga Public Library in recent months. Observer Note: Videos of the previous property tax education sessions are available on the Geauga ADP YouTube channel. Mr. Walder said that ADP would livestream the Special Meeting. He stated that this would also be a Claridon Township Trustees meeting, with the Trustees’ meeting starting at 6:00 pm. Mr. Walder noted that Auburn Township has expressed an interest in hosting a similar meeting at some point, but no date has been set.
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Correspondence from a Member of the Public: The Budget Commission staff shared correspondence from a member of the public stating: “Did you know that Cardinal athletics is more important than academics? They can increase the levy every day, if they choose to, because of the writing.” Mr. Walder said he was unaware of this, and Mr. Hitchcock said he appreciated being made aware.
Public Comment:
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Geauga Public Health (GPH) Finance Director Katie Taylor said she was having audio difficulties earlier and asked Mr. Walder to repeat his question. He said he knew that there were some Then and Now issues that had come up while GPH was working to pay last year’s contract bills to Lake County, and he asked for a status update on that. Reviewer Note: It was stated at the April 15, 2026 GPH Board Meeting that GPH still owes Lake County $500,000 for 2025. Ms. Taylor said that they were still working on this matter. She noted that the outstanding invoices do not pass the “then test” and they were still trying to find a solution to this problem. She said she is working with legal as well as Budget Commission staff to solve this. Observer Note: For more information on Then and Nows and the “then test,” please see the June 30, 2025 Budget Commission LWVG Observer Report.
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This Observer asked for an update regarding the entities with missing permanent appropriations. Observer Note: Please see the April 6, 2026 Budget Commission LWVG Observer Report for more information. Mr. Walder said that they still didn’t have the permanent appropriations for Geauga Park District and Russell 1545 Park District. He went on to say, “I don't know that there's a legal requirement for them to submit their permanents to me, but the Budget Commission likely could not consider a supplemental appropriation, because you can't supplement under temporaries, so until we're aware they're in permanence, we couldn't consider a supplemental.” This Observer also clarified the meeting details for the May 4 Special Meeting and asked whether or not the information regarding the number of recent foreclosures in Geauga County was available for the public yet. Observer Note: Please see the March 16, 2026 Budget Commission LWVG Observer Report for background information on the foreclosure information request. Mr. Flaiz said he had the information but it was not with him. This Observer requested that information either be sent to LWVG by email or be available to be shared at the next Budget Commission meeting. Observer Note: This information had not been received via email as of the publication of this report. Finally, this Observer requested a copy of all materials from this meeting, which were received via two emails sent on April 20 & 22, 2026.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:32 am.
Next Meeting: The next Budget Commission Meeting will be a Regular Meeting on Monday, May 4, 2026 at 10:00 am in the Auditor's Conference Room, 215 Main Street, Chardon. There will also be a Special Meeting for the property tax education session later that same day, Monday, May 4, 2026 at 6:30 pm at the Claridon Township Administration Building, 13932 Mayfield Road, Claridon. Virtual attendance for 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: Carol Benton
Submitted: April 22, 2026
The League of Women Voters of Geauga is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. They do not support or oppose individual candidates or parties. Learn more about the LWVG at www.lwvgeauga.org.