Budget Commission Unanimously Denies Geauga Public Health’s Budget
Budget Commission Meeting – June 2, 2025
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Regular Session on Monday, June 2, 2025 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.
Meeting Attendance: Prosecutor Jim Flaiz, Auditor Chuck Walder, and Treasurer Chris Hitchcock (arriving at 10:04 am).
Staff Attendance: Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kristen Rine (virtual), Chief Compliance Officer Kate Jacob (virtual), Deputy Auditors Tammy Most and Kristen Sinatra, and Chief Operations Officer Pam McMahan.
County Staff: Budget and Finance Manager Adrian Gorton (virtual).
Geauga Public Health Representatives: N/A
Members of the Public: This LWV Geauga Observer (virtual).
The meeting was called to order at 10:02 am.
Minutes: Minutes from the Regular Meeting on May 19, 2025 were approved. The minutes will be posted here when available.
Acknowledgement of Correspondence from the City of Chardon:
The Budget Commission voted to acknowledge correspondence from the City of Chardon dated May 23, 2025 regarding Geauga Public Health’s revenue. Mr. Flaiz noted that this fulfilled the statutory requirement under ORC (Ohio Revised Code) 3709.28(F). Observer Note: Chardon’s letter was signed by City Manager Randal Sharpe and stated that Geauga municipal corporations and townships owe no additional money to GPH for FY2026. The Budget Commissioners required this information be provided at the reconvening of the Geauga Public Health 2026 Budget Hearing on May 19, 2025 in order to reconsider GPH’s budget at the present meeting. The reopening of GPH’s 2026 Budget Hearing is presented later in this report.
The following Revenue Certifications were approved:
Reviewer Note: An explanation of the different types of funds in revenue certifications can be found
here.
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West Geauga Local Schools - Amendment #5. $58,437,192.10 in the general fund, $7,841,129.92 in special revenue funds, $26,199,570.20 in capital project funds, $1,610,982.42 in enterprise funds, $282,286.33 in internal service funds, and $2,300.00 in fiduciary funds for a total of $94,373,460.97.
West Geauga’s amendment certified increases in special revenue funds, capital project funds, and fiduciary funds. It was noted that the capital project fund increases include $4,750,000 for middle school renovations and $11,500,000 for other capital projects.
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Cardinal Local Schools - Amendment #4. $20,704,857.43 in the general fund, $2,347,500.45 in special revenue funds, $2,023,464.50 in debt service funds, $2,412,459.06 in capital project funds, $675,985.02 in enterprise funds, $49,793.04 in internal service funds, and $54,994.46 in fiduciary funds for a total of $28,269,053.96.
Cardinal’s amendment reflected increases in the general fund, special revenue funds, debt service funds, capital project funds, and internal service funds, and a decrease in fiduciary funds. The Budget Commissioners expressed regret to hear that Cardinal’s Treasurer Terry Armstrong was leaving his position.
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Newbury Township - Amendment #5. $1,788,324.97 in the general fund, $4,110,745.92 in special revenue funds, $965,588.24 in debt service funds, $511,344.33 in capital project funds, and $793.32 in special assessment funds for a total of $7,376,796.78.
Newbury’s amendment reflected a $17,000 increase in the cemetery special revenue fund.
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Bainbridge Township - Amendment #4. $4,301,900.37 in the general fund, $20,161,996.38 in special revenue funds, $1,843,788.74 in debt service funds, $4,704,224.59 in capital project funds, and $539.79 in fiduciary funds for a total of $31,012,449.87.
Bainbridge’s amendment reflected a $300,500 increase in the police capital project fund. The Budget Commission also voted to acknowledge Bainbridge’s establishment of a new capital reserve fund for fire in the amount of $500,000. It was noted that Bainbridge owns its own fire protection equipment.
Appropriations Transfers
The Budget Commissioners voted to acknowledge two Geauga Public Health appropriations transfers. The first was a transfer of $60,000 from contract services to two different areas: material supplies ($10,000) and “remit to State” ($50,000). The other appropriations transfer was a $25,000 transfer from injury prevention to “other.”
Reopening of the Tabled Geauga Public Health (GPH) 2026 Budget Hearing
Observer Note: The Geauga Public Health 2026 Budget Hearing was held on April 21, 2025. The GPH budget was tabled by the Budget Commission at that time, and it was tabled again when it was reconsidered at the May 19, 2025 Budget Commission meeting. Please see the April 21, 2025 Budget Commission Observer Report and the May 19, 2025 Budget Commission Observer Report for more information.
The Budget Commission unanimously voted to deny the 2026 GPH budget. GPH’s estimated 2026 resources, which were not certified, are available in the April 21, 2025 Budget Commission Observer Report, with one change reflected in the May 19, 2025 Budget Commission Observer Report.
Discussion highlights:
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Ms. Sinatra noted that numbers on GPH’s proposed 2026 Revenue Certification have not changed since the initial hearing on April 21 and are as follows: $3,130,730.56 in the general fund and $4,250,901.74 in special revenue funds for a total of $7,381,632.30.
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Mr. Walder shared that he had information regarding GPH outside of what the other Budget Commissioners are privy to resulting in him having “... one of the highest degrees of concern I've ever had for a public entity with Geauga Public Health right now, due to the fact that I have been unsuccessful in trying to get them to discuss the current problems that surround both the issues brought up during their budget as well as other accounting issues that my office is experiencing with them.” Observer Note: Some of these concerns are detailed below. He said he could not approve the GPH budget until these problems are resolved because he felt there were too many risk factors and too much money was at risk. Mr. Walder indicated that the Health Commissioner and the GPH Board are not giving “proper attention” to these concerns, and he stated that neither the Health Commissioner nor the Board Member he has reached out to have called him back to discuss the situation. Mr. Walder expounded that GPH lacks a sense of urgency to fix budgetary issues and that GPH doesn’t seem to understand the policies of Geauga County that they are required to follow: “It doesn't matter if they're paying these bills from Lake County…. I don't answer to the people in Lake County; I answer to the people in Geauga.” There was a discussion regarding when the deadline was for GPH to have an approved budget, but no one seemed to know for sure. It was noted that no one was present from GPH to clarify the matter.
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Mr. Flaiz said he was “frustrated” to see estimated revenues and expenses matching exactly in many GPH funds.
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Mr. Hitchcock asked if GPH is audited by the State. Mr. Walder said that they were, and they are also audited independently under the compliance requirements for grants they receive. He said the latter type of audits were going “not well” from his perspective, and he felt GPH did not seem concerned, which he found alarming: “If I had gotten the letter that they received last November from the compliance person in Columbus on a federal grant, I would probably not be sleeping since last November.” Mr. Walder said that “The State has drawn a line in the sand, and the State's concerns are exactly the same as my concerns, and that's internal controls. These internal controls do not meet the federal guidelines required for the grants, and they have to remedy that within a certain window of time (the deadline is June 30, 2025) or the money is going to be clawed back.” Reviewer Note: Please see discussion by the GPH board of the status of the GPH budget and the departure of the GPH finance person and his replacement in the May 28, 2025 GPH Observer Report.
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Mr. Hitchcock again noted “They (GPH) don't have anybody here or online. Clearly, we don't have their attention yet.” Mr. Walder said he didn’t know how to get GPH’s attention, adding that he had sent them two letters and even texted a Member over the weekend to no avail. Mr. Hitchcock said “The most important aspect is to not jeopardize the health of our county, while at the same time, we cannot allow any tax-supported entity to run without review. That's what they are asking us to continue to do.”
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Mr. Hitchcock observed that GPH has funds with cash balances that are too high, such as Fund 6011 (Private Water System Fund) having 3.5 years’ worth of revenue. He also noted that Fund 6042 (Population Health) has enough revenue for 190 years, which he called “an abomination.” Mr. Walder recalled that Mr. Hitchcock had taken issue with GPH having a number of funds with high cash balances and no current activity, saying those funds should either be returned to the taxpayers or used for other lawful GPH purposes. Mr. Walder contended that GPH has not presented a clear plan for dealing with that concern. Mr. Flaiz said that the GPH and HDAC (Health District Advisory Council) Boards are likely largely unaware of this problem.
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Mr. Hitchcock moved to not approve the GPH 2026 budget. The motion passed unanimously.
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After the vote, Mr. Hitchcock said he hoped Mr. Walder’s concerns were limited to process issues and not the safety of GPH’s money. Mr. Walder replied that he didn’t have enough information “... to know where my concern should end.” He went on to say that “some of the things they (GPH) are asking us to do… they’re not real actions. Nobody does that in any county. You just don’t do that.” He also said that Geauga taxpayers expect the arrangement with Lake County to be more efficient than GPH was before, “... and if this is an indication of the efficiency, then clearly that's not happened, and that's my concern. Are we getting our money's worth?” Mr. Walder indicated that his office’s employees who are attempting to help resolve GPH’s compliance issues with the State are the only Geaugans involved with the situation, and they have been met with “nothing but resistance” from Lake County employees.
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Discussion continued, with Mr. Walder giving an example that Geauga requires all Then and Nows (a way to pay bills if there was not an encumbrance opened first) to get Board approval, which is a procedure followed by all Geauga County entities including the County Commissioners. Mr. Walder said that GPH is arguing that they don’t need to do that because it’s not required in Lake County, but he pointed out the bills in question that need to be paid are Geauga bills, not Lake bills. He noted that the payment of those bills is part of what the State needs to see in order to satisfy grant requirements. He said “... they're trying to get money from this grant, saying they consumed it, and the State says, ‘You've never, you've never spent the money, because there's no evidence you spent the money.’ The problem is, when they first asked for that evidence, they falsified. They said they spent it, and, when the state asked me for a public records request, we didn't have the check. They asked you (Treasurer Hitchcock) for that same data. They asked me for the invoice and your office for the check. Both of us said ‘we don't see a check,’ and I said, ‘I don't see an invoice.’ And the state was ‘we have a problem with that.’ That's a compliance problem. You can't say you paid a bill that you haven't paid yet.”
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The Budget Commissioners voted to send a copy of the certificate denying the GPH budget and a letter stating the GPH budget was denied after being discussed at length by the Budget Commission on June 2, 2025, with no GPH personnel electing to be present, via mail to the GPH and HDAC Boards. It was noted that email addresses for these Board members are not publicly available.
Discussion:
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Berkshire Schools Update: Ms. Sinatra said they had received a copy “... of what Berkshire Local Schools put together as their funding story” sent anonymously through the mail, and she shared this with the Budget Commissioners. Mr. Flaiz said that the appeal time has lapsed for Berkshire to appeal the Budget Commission’s decision to deny its requested inside millage shift. Observer Note: Please see the April 22, 2025 Budget Commission Report for more information on the denial of Berkshire’s inside millage shift. A copy of the Berkshire Funding Story is available here.
Monday, August 18, 2025
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
Russell Township
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 19, 2025
9:00 am
Russell Park 1545
Chester Park
Russell Citizens Park
Geauga Library
City of Chardon
Burton Village
Burton Library
West Geauga Recreation District
9:45 am
Middlefield Village & East Geauga Fire
South Russell Village
Geauga Park District
All 2026 Budget Hearings will take place in the Auditor’s Appraisal Conference Room
Public Comment:
This Observer asked the Budget Commissioners what happens next now that they have denied the GPH 2026 budget, as GPH presumably needs budgetary approval to operate in 2026. Mr. Walder said that they cannot do the GPH budget for them, and GPH has “... not satisfied the questions that have been posed of how some of these fund balances are going to be reduced in a timely manner, and what that timely manner looks like. And it seems like the further down the road of discussion we've come, the fewer the participants on the other side of the table there are, which is, I think, a bad sign. Couple that with the other issues that are ancillary and separate from the Budget Commission items, I think there's obviously great concern, and that concern needs to get the attention of the Board.”
This observer also requested a copy of all materials from the meeting, which were received via email on
June 2 and 3, 2025, and confirmed that 2026 Budget Hearings will take place in the Auditor’s Appraisal Conference Room.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:56 am.
Next Meeting: The next Budget Commission meeting meeting is on June 30, 2025 at 10:00 am in the Auditor’s Conference Room, 215 Main Street, Chardon, Ohio. Virtual attendance for all Budget Commission meetings is available via Microsoft Teams by emailing an invitation request to Ms. McMahan at pmcmahan@gcauditor.com.
Observer: Sarah McGlone
Editor: Rooney Moy
Reviewer: Carol Benton
Submitted: June 3, 2025
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