Budget Commission Regular Meeting – October 2, 2023
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Regular Session on Monday, October 2, 2023 at 10:00 am 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: Prosecutor Jim Flaiz, Auditor Chuck Walder and Treasurer Chris Hitchcock.
Staff Attendance: Chief Deputy Auditor Ron Leyde, Deputy Auditors Tammy Most and Kristen Sinatra, and Fiscal Office Manager Pam McMahan.
County/Township Staff: Geauga County Budget and Finance Manager Adrian Gorton (virtual) and Chester Township Administrator Mark Purchase.
The meeting was called to order at 10:03am.
Minutes: Minutes from the Special Meetings on 8/28/23 and 8/30/23 and the Regular Meeting on 9/18/23 were approved without discussion.
The following Revenue Certifications were approved:
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Kenston Local School District - Amendment #1 - $49,001,187.14 in the general fund, $1,888,866.65 in special revenue funds, $6,762,090.20 in debt service funds, $773,226.40 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 $70,220,275.81. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Kenston’s amendment reflected a net reduction in revenue of $752,177.58.
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Cardinal Local School District - Amendment #1 - $18,667,773.72 in the general fund, $2,835,472.93 in special revenue funds, $2,006,919.89 in debt service funds, $1,469,868.38 in capital project funds, $784,124.48 in enterprise funds, and $102,384.34 in fiduciary funds for a total of $25,866,543.74. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Cardinal’s amendment certified a net increase in revenue of $1,928,194.49.
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Chardon Local School District - Amendment #2 - $61,741,300.06 in the general fund, $8,053,642.06 in special revenue funds, $434,341.20 in debt service funds, $2,378,843.05 in capital project funds, $8,469,996.86 in internal service funds, and $242,466.78 in fiduciary funds for a total of $81,320,590.01. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
Chardon’s amendment reflected a net adjustment into their special revenue funds of $414,865.96.
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West Geauga Local School District - Amendment #2 - $54,837,120.86 in the general fund, $8,740,301.94 in special revenue funds, $2,213,637.13 in capital project funds, $1,702,679.99 in enterprise funds, $275,645.11 in internal service funds, and $319,793.16 in fiduciary funds for a total of $68,089,178.19. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
West Geauga’s amendment certified net adjustments in their 1) general fund of $1,854,530, 2)
special revenue funds of $752,712.48, 3) enterprise funds of $2,000, 4) internal service funds of
$10,000, and 5) fiduciary funds of $300.
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South Russell Village - Amendment #7 - $1,731,401.96 in the general fund, $7,491,205.38 in special revenue funds, $1,791,379.69 in capital project funds, and $266,036.53 in fiduciary funds for a total of $11,280,023.56. Appropriations do not exceed revenue.
South Russell’s amendment reflected an increase in their safety fund of $20,000.
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Geauga County - Amendment #12 - $51,157,857.46 in the general fund, $128,499,274.03 in special revenue funds, $6,279,092.87 in debt service funds, $1,254,159.50 in special assessment funds, $27,843,104.47 in capital project funds, $18,063,060.25 in enterprise funds, $1,206,807.93 in internal service funds, and $3,757,550.66 in fiduciary funds for a total of $238,060,907.17.
Geauga County’s Amendment was a decertification of transit funds. Geauga County Budget and
Finance Manager Gorton explained that this decertification is a result of all the transit revenue that will
not be collected as a result of Geauga County Transit being transferred to Laketran. He stated that a
Court Order has been signed allowing the County to decertify this revenue.
Other Business:
Discussion:
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Chester Township Additional Inside Millage Request - Mr. Walder stated that he received a letter from the Chester Township Trustees asking for additional inside millage. Chester Township Administrator Mark Purchase explained that they are hoping to get money to put into reserve funds for different departments because they have buildings that are starting to fail and they have no funds to put towards them. Mr. Walder said that discussing this request is hard because the Chester Trustees didn’t quantify their request. He went on to explain that inside millage is capped at 10 Mills in Geauga County, and Chester has no additional inside millage available currently. Mr. Walder asked for an approximate amount of inside millage that the Chester Trustees think they need, and Mr. Purchase replied at least 1 Mill, which Mr. Walder stated is equivalent to $415,000 at 100% collection.
Mr. Walder explained that there is a “...direct, proportionate increase in inside millage as a result of
whatever the re-eval determines (property) values rose or decreased by,” referring to the recently
completed re-evaluation of property values in Geauga County. He noted that residential valuations
increased by 34.5% while agricultural valuations increased by 31.6% in Chester Township on average, so
Chester Township will receive an increase in funds from their inside millage as a result of the re-
evaluation. Mr. Walder did the calculations and stated Chester Township will net about $400,000 from
this, which is roughly equivalent to what they were hoping for with their increased inside millage
request: “You are going to get the relief that you say that you that you need… you're getting it through
means that nobody has to do anything about, it just happens.”
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Increased Property Values Throughout Geauga County - Observer Comment: After the meeting, the increased property valuations as a result of the re-evaluation, along with information explaining the overall situation with inside millage, were published on the Auditor’s website here. All Geauga County Townships and Municipalities will have property valuation increases, with average County residential valuations increasing by 29.5% and average County agricultural valuations increasing by 26.1%. Valuation increases vary by Township/Municipality, with the largest residential valuation increase in South Russell (37.7%) and the smallest residential valuation increase in Parkman Township (19.2%).
Mr. Walder noted that the whole county is going to experience an increase in real property values due
the re-evaluation, meaning that “everybody who benefits from inside millage is going to get a windfall.”
He went on to say that “in general, I have a problem that government gets a windfall benefiting on the
backs of taxpayers for doing absolutely nothing to get it.” Mr. Walder stated that inside millage is going
to go up almost 30% on average throughout Geauga County. Mr. Hitchcock noted that this is happening
without citizens voting for it and cautioned that “...this is a very dangerous area. My office has been
inundated with literally hundreds of phone calls. I've been talking to taxpayers who are trying to figure
out how they can pay their tax bill.” He said there has never been a valuation increase of this magnitude
before.
Mr. Flaiz wondered why the State of Ohio is doing this and observed that “they’re hammering
everybody (not just Geauga County alone).” Mr. Walder disagreed with the idea that the situation is the
State’s fault and explained that the State’s “giant equation” to calculate property valuation is based
primarily on how much properties are actually selling for in different parts of Ohio. Certified appraisers
go out to each property and then match it to a comparable one sold in the last three years. He stated
that Geauga County’s average residential valuation increase of 29.5% is “unprecedented,” but other
Ohio counties have even bigger increases, such as Ashtabula County’s average increase of approximately
40%. Mr. Walder expressed worry about how the increased inside millage will affect Geauga taxpayers,
especially those with limited incomes, and he reiterated Mr. Hitchcock’s concern that the taxpayers
didn’t vote for this. He mentioned that the valuation increases are effective as of 1/1/23, so taxes will be
higher starting with collection in January 2024.
Mr. Walder remarked that taxpayers may think all of their taxes are going to increase by 29.5%, but that
isn’t true. Inside millage and new and replacement levies- including those on the ballot in November
2023- will increase by that amount, but existing and renewal levies will not. (Emphasis added by
Reviewer.) He shared that his office is in the process of putting tools together to help taxpayers
understand what happens when property values change, including a parcel by parcel calculator. Mr.
Walder explained that, overall, 25% of the increase will go to Geauga County, 45% will go to local school
districts, and 30% will go to Townships and Municipalities. He observed that no entities besides Chester
Township have expressed any need for these additional funds and opined that entities shouldn’t be
taking this extra money if they don’t need it.
Mr. Walder noted that he explained some of his “angst” about this situation at his Auditor’s Department
Budget Hearing with the County Commissioners on September 26. He said that County Commissioner
Tim Lennon asked if the windfall could be returned to the taxpayers in some way, such as reduction in
inside millage. Mr. Walder discouraged an inside millage reduction, because if one entity reduces their
inside millage, it goes back “in the pool” and becomes available for other entities to claim. Instead, Mr.
Walder advised taking the windfall money and applying it to entities with a need for it, and those
entities in turn would reduce their levy collection. This creates a trade off for taxpayers, wherein they
pay more in inside millage but pay less in levies so things even out, making it a “win-win for the
taxpayer.” However, he did state that there are “a lot of entities that have to be surveyed to see if they'll
do it (implement his suggested solution).” He went on to say that “I'm hoping that people heed this and
say, ‘...we want to responsibly look at what we're collecting and try to reduce that collection to offset
this pain to the taxpayer.’”
Auditor Walder noted that his proposed solution would require changes to the allocation of revenue,
which is a Budget Commission function. He also said that he interpreted County Commissioner Lennon’s
question about what could be done to help taxpayers as a request for guidance. Mr. Walder explained
that one thing the County could potentially do is split their estimated $3,000,000 inside millage windfall
between Job and Family Services (JFS) and Aging and then reduce collection on their levies a
corresponding amount. He also remarked that if the County takes the lead in giving the windfall back to
the taxpayers, other County entities may be more inclined to follow suit. Mr. Flaiz moved that the
Budget Commission send a letter to the County Commissioners laying out the solution Mr. Walder
described, and this motion was approved by all the Budget Commissioners.
Mr. Walder revealed that he plans to pursue a remedy to the situation through the legislature as well,
saying that “there should be a relief valve where inside millage only changes by 5% for example; if this
thing exceeds 5%, it's capped.”
Public Comment:
This observer had several points of clarification/questions. First, the identification of off-camera meeting attendees was ascertained, as was Mr. Purchase’s full name and job title. Second, a copy of the letter the Budget Commission voted to send to the County Commissioners was requested to be sent to the LWV once it is created. Third, a copy of the document showing the increases in Geauga property valuations was also requested, particularly via a website link when available. Finally, this observer asked if there was any more information about the Auburn Road Levy that was discussed at the previous Budget Commission meeting. Mr. Walder stated that they are still waiting to hear from the Ohio Tax Commissioner.
Mr. Gorton commented that JFS indicated at their Department Budget Hearing on September 28 that they are considering redoing one of their levies. They may reduce their 0.5 Mills levy to 0.3 Mills and make it a Human Services Levy rather than a Children’s Services Levy. Mr. Gorton noted that the County Commissioners seemed favorable to this idea. Mr. Flaiz pointed out that JFS would have to go before the voters to do this. Mr. Gorton replied that they are coming up on renewal soon and may make the changes then, or perhaps even go before the voters earlier. Mr. Flaiz suggested that, rather than go through with this plan, “...they could, you know, fill their open positions and pay their people a better rate so that they could fill their positions. That would help get rid of some of the money and actually use it for what the voters wanted, which was to support abused and neglected children.” Mr. Gorton stated that this was discussed at the JFS Department Budget Hearing as well.
Mr. Walder asked Mr. Gorton if he had any comment regarding County Commissioner Lennon’s statement at the Auditor’s Budget Hearing regarding finding a way to help taxpayers with their increased tax burden. Mr. Gorton said that Mr. Walder’s description was accurate and that he appreciates the Budget Commission’s guidance on how to provide relief to the Geauga taxpayers.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:02am.
More Information and Posted Minutes: Available on Auditor website
Next Meeting: October 16, 2023 at 10:00 am in the Auditor’s Conference Room at 215 Main Street,
Chardon, Ohio.
Observer: Sarah McGlone
Editor: Anne Ondrey
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
Submitted 10/2/23
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