Budget Commission Tables 2027 Geauga Public Health Budget
Budget Commission Meeting – June 1, 2026
Meeting Details: The Geauga County Budget Commission met in Special Session on Monday, June 1, 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: Treasurer Chris Hitchcock, Prosecutor Jim Flaiz (departing at 10:33 am), and ADP (Automatic Data Processing) Chief Deputy Administrator Frank Antenucci (substituting for Auditor Chuck Walder).
Staff Attendance: Deputy Auditors Tina Kloski and Jennifer Hess, Auditor’s Office Chief Operations Officer Pam McMahan, and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kristen Rine (virtual).
County Staff: Geauga Public Health Finance Director Katie Taylor and Geauga County Budget and Finance Manager Adrian Gorton (virtual).
Members of the Public: Geauga County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board Member Kathy Johnson, this LWV Geauga Observer and one member of the public all attended virtually.
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 am.
Minutes: Minutes for the Budget Commission meeting on May 18, 2026 were approved. Budget Commission Minutes can be found here when posted.
Geauga Public Health (GPH) 2027 Budget Hearing
At the beginning of the GPH Budget Hearing, the Budget Commissioners voted to accept a letter from the City of Chardon stating that:
Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 3709.28(F) and the contract for the Union of the City of Chardon Health District and the Geauga County Combined Health District and Creating a Combined Board of Health the City's required contribution to the district for fiscal year 2027 is $0.00.
Please let this letter serve as official record that for fiscal year 2027 Chardon City Council does not intend to appropriate any funds for a voluntary contribution to the Health Department. As such, the Department will not receive any supplemental funding from the City.
The Budget Commission ultimately voted to table the 2027 GPH budget unanimously. GPH’s submission included the following estimated 2027 resources, which were not certified:
-
General Fund (#6002)
-
Estimated 2027 beginning cash balance: $219,525.99
-
Estimated 2027 revenue: $1,049,761.00
-
Estimated 2027 expenses: $956,750.27
-
Estimated 2027 ending cash balance: $312,536.72
GPH Budget Hearing Discussion Highlights:
-
It was noted that Ms. Taylor has been with GPH for about 9 months and this is her first Budget Hearing as GPH’s Finance Director. All noted the root of GPH’s financial issues stems from before Ms. Taylor’s time at GPH (described in more detail below).
-
Mr. Hitchcock observed that there is an “... extraordinary amount of cash that is being held (by GPH) that is serving absolutely no purpose,” and he asked what the consequence would be if the Budget Commission voted to remove some of its levy funding. Ms. Taylor responded that GPH still owes about $800,000 to Lake County, and this has caused GPH’s cash balances to be so high. Mr. Hitchcock asked for confirmation that these outstanding bills have not yet been allocated to the various GPH funds for payment yet, and Ms. Taylor said that was correct. She noted that for the last 6 months of 2025, money was never appropriated to pay the bills to Lake County. She explained that: “After meeting with the Budget Commission multiple times, it wouldn't pass the Then and Now test to go back and do that (pay the old invoices) right now, because the money was never appropriated while it was sitting in those funds. It was never appropriated, so I can't open an encumbrance for those, to get those to be paid to date.” Observer Note: See the June 30, 2025 Budget Commission LWVG Observer Report for background information, including an explanation of the Then and Now test.
-
Mr. Antenucci asked if the 2027 GPH budget submission includes the unpaid obligations to Lake County from 2025. Ms. Taylor said it does not and noted that she would be meeting with GPH Legal Counsel Bryan Kostura the next day to try to find a legal solution to this issue.
-
Mr. Flaiz suggested that Lake County could pursue legal action against GPH to get the $800,000 it is owed and then the matter could be settled. Mr. Antenucci asked if there is anything in the Cross-Jurisdictional Agreement (CJA) between Lake and Geauga regarding how non-payment is handled. Mr. Flaiz said he could look into that, but Ms. Taylor said she didn’t think there was anything covering a situation like this and stated that the CJA is “very vague.”
-
Mr. Flaiz asked how payments to Lake County work. Ms. Taylor said that originally GPH planned to “... pay Lake County in a lump sum out of the general fund, and then transfer money from the specialized funds to supplement the general fund.” However, the Budget Commission disallowed that approach (see the June 30, 2025 Observer Report linked above for more information). She explained that “now we do get billed monthly (by Lake County), one invoice, but it's broken down on the invoice per fund.” The Budget Commissioners agreed that this is the right way to do it and this approach will be good going forward. Ms. Taylor agreed as well, but she noted that the problem remains with the older invoices. She stated that, “it's the historical issues kind of screwing all these numbers up right now.” She added that untangling GPH’s financial issues is a difficult task: “a lot of my time and effort has been spent trying to kind of figure out the funds that have been either misappropriated, it's both revenues and expenditures, they've been paid out of inconsistent line items, they've been deposited into inconsistent line items.”
-
Discussion returned to how to pay Lake County the $800,000. Mr. Flaiz reiterated: “They (GPH) can't (make an appropriation to pay the outstanding bills) now, because the money wasn't appropriated when they incurred the liability, that's the problem. So Lake County is going to have to file legal action against us.” He went on to say that he didn’t know any other way to solve the problem besides Lake County filing suit against GPH. Mr. Antenucci stated that $800,000 is a lot of money and wanted to know if Lake County is asking for that money. Ms. Taylor replied: “In fact, at one point they didn't realize that it was still outstanding.” It was suggested that perhaps Lake might “eat” the money (give up on getting payment), but it was agreed that this was unlikely.
-
Mr. Antenucci expressed concern about having “to some extent the same people on both sides,” such as Lake County staff working in Geauga. He also said he didn’t understand why no GPH Board members were present for this hearing. Ms. Taylor said that there has been confusion since the CJA was instituted in 2023, and she noted that there have been at least five different people who have handled the GPH finances since then, creating a great deal of inconsistency. She also stated that GPH’s 2023-24 state audit is still outstanding, and it has been challenging to locate all of the information needed to respond to requests for information relating to that audit.
-
Ms. Taylor confirmed that she primarily prepared the 2027 GPH budget submission herself and it was approved by the GPH Board in February 2026. Observer Note: See the February 18, 2026 GPH LWVG Observer Report for details. Mr. Antenucci asked if the GPH Board approved the budget knowing that there was a $800,000 liability to Lake County, and Ms. Taylor said that was the case.
-
Ms. Taylor expressed frustration with the GPH budget being “so twisted.” She added that “... this budget that was submitted might not make a whole lot of sense…. I can't project what the end of the year looks like with this amount of money outstanding. Are we going to end up paying that? Are they going to have to sue? I don't know what that looks like.”
-
There was a lengthy discussion of GPH’s budgetary process. Ms. Taylor said that her understanding was that the GPH budget goes to Board of Health for approval in February, then HDAC (Geauga County Health District Advisory Council) reviews it in March, then it comes to Budget Commission for approval in June, and then it gets “cleaned up” in October or November before returning to the Budget Commission in November sometime to get updated. The Budget Commissioners commented that was unlike any other entity’s process.
-
Ms. Rine explained that the budgetary process starts early with GPH “... because the way the statutes are set up technically, the townships and all of the subdivisions that benefit from the health district, part of their budget relies on what happens with the health district. So, that's why you guys have this process in place ahead of time, and that's what the timing looks like. My recollection, though, is that ultimately the levying authority for the tax is the Board of County Commissioners. So, I do think that ultimately the levy that's involved here is rolled into the Commissioners’ budget, but I don't have all of that information right in front of me, but I do know it is very unique compared to the process for every other entity that we deal with.” Mr. Gorton said that “we (the Commissioners) don't budget any of the health department funds in our budget. They’re totally separate.”
-
It was determined that the GPH budget did not have to be approved by the Budget Commission at this meeting. The Budget Commissioners expressed a desire to have GPH Board members present at the hearing as well as “somebody from Lake County” to provide explanations about the budget. Mr. Flaiz expressed concern about the For Sale of Property fund having a great deal of cash (about $554,000) despite that program being defunct. Ms. Taylor said it may eventually be transferred to the Operations and Maintenance fund, though Mr. Flaiz observed that this fund had a high balance as well.
-
Mr. Hitchcock requested that GPH provide the Budget Commission with a breakdown of how the $800,000 in obligations will be allocated among the various GPH funds. Ms. Taylor agreed to do this.
-
The Budget Commissioners then voted unanimously to table the consideration of the 2027 GPH Budget until a future meeting.
-
Mr. Hitchcock told Ms. Taylor “this does not reflect on you at all.”
-
Mr. Antenucci reiterated that when the GPH Budget is reconsidered, it should have “two board members and somebody from Lake County that provides continuity of what happened in the past, so preferably the Health Commissioner (Adam Litke).”
-
At this point, Mr. Flaiz departed the meeting to attend a hearing.
-
Mr. Hitchcock asked if GPH’s pay-in problem has been solved. Ms. Taylor said that it has been resolved, though no details were provided. Observer Note: Pay-ins are payments received by the county. The 24 hour rule refers to the fact that under state law, pay-ins must be deposited in the county treasury within 24 hours of being received. See the May 18, 2026 Budget Commission LWVG Observer Report for information about the pay-in issue.
Regular Business
The following Revenue Certificates were approved:
Reviewer Note: An explanation of the different types of funds in revenue certifications can be found
here.
-
Chardon Local School District - Amendment #7. $57,984,694.87 in the general fund, $6,688,478.05 in special revenue funds, $451,477.43 in debt service funds, $5,647,293.40 in capital project funds, $9,275,200.22 in internal service funds, and $115,642.98 in fiduciary funds for a total of $80,162,786.95.
Chardon Schools’ amendment certified an increase in special revenue funds.
-
Chardon Township
-
Amended/Modified Amendment #1. $1,436,593.02 in the general fund, $2,921,309.53 in special revenue funds, $47,371.17 in debt service funds, and $838.27 in fiduciary funds for a total of $4,406,111.99.
-
Amended/Modified Amendment #2. $1,436,593.02 in the general fund, $3,396,309.53 in special revenue funds, $47,371.17 in debt service funds, and $838.27 in fiduciary funds for a total of $4,881,111.99.
-
Amendment #3. $1,436,593.02 in the general fund, $3,408,309.53 in special revenue funds, $47,371.17 in debt service funds, and $838.27 in fiduciary funds for a total of $4,893,111.99.
Chardon Township’s amendments were tabled at the last Budget Commission meeting in order to create amended versions of Chardon Township’s previously approved amendments due to the refiling of Chardon’s year-end certificate. Observer Note: See the May 18, 2026 Budget Commission LWVG Observer Report for details. The corrected versions of Chardon’s first two amendments were labeled “Amended/Modified.” Chardon’s Amendment #3 reflected an increase in special revenue funds.
-
Newbury Township - Amendment #4. $1,798,676.00 in the general fund, $4,170,572.09 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 $7,343,209.44.
Newbury Township’s amendment certified an increase in special revenue funds.
-
Geauga County - Amendment #6. $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, $32,359,507.79 in enterprise funds, $1,751,515.64 in internal service funds, and $3,783,883.29 in fiduciary funds for a total of $243,006,962.46.
Geauga County’s amendment certified an increase in enterprise funds.
Other Business:
-
2026 Missing Permanent Appropriations Updates. Observer Note: Prior to this meeting, neither Russell 1545 Park District nor Geauga Park District had submitted their permanent appropriations for the year. Please see the April 6, 2026 Budget Commission LWVG Observer Report, the May 4, 2026 Budget Commission LWVG Observer Report, and the May 18, 2026 Budget Commission LWVG Observer Report for details.
-
The Budget Commission voted to accept Russell 1545 Park District’s 2026 permanent appropriations in the amount of $9,016.00 in the general fund.
-
It was reported that Geauga Park District (GPD) does not have formal Board approval of its permanent appropriations yet. However, GPD did send the Budget Commission draft minutes of the Board meeting when they were approved and wanted to know if this would suffice. It was decided that the draft minutes were not adequate because they are not official and are not approved by the Board. Mr. Antenucci pointed out that currently GPD does not have any permanent appropriations. GPD had also inquired if there was a deadline for submissions being brought before the Budget Commission. Neither Mr. Hitchcock nor Mr. Antenucci knew the answer to that inquiry.
-
Update on Out of Balance Geauga Public Health Revenue. Observer Note: At the May 18, 2026 Budget Commission Meeting, it was determined that GPH’s 2026 revenue was out of balance with New World (Geauga County’s fiscal management software program) by over $2 million. Ms. Taylor was asked if there would be any revenue certifications or decertifications in order to correct GPH’s revenue numbers. She responded that this was proving difficult to do because of the “... lack of historical documentation for a lot of things. So, while I have the approved June 30 budget from the Budget Commission, it's almost a snapshot, you know, it has the breakdown of the revenues and maybe expenses. Where those tie out to, I don't know where that exists.” She went on to explain that the information she has is a synopsis, but she has thus far been unable to locate the more detailed breakdown of revenue and expenses needed to correct the issue despite her diligent efforts to do so. She said that she will be working on “... trying to reconstruct what makes sense historically, what has maybe been entered into New World, and making that make sense and add up to what was presented to the Budget Commission and ultimately approved.” Mr. Antenucci said that she shouldn’t have to do this because the information should all be in files somewhere, perhaps in “a basement somewhere in Lake County.” Ms. Taylor said “they could be in the basement at Geauga” and reiterated the amount of time and effort she has put into attempting to research and find records. Mr. Antenucci asked if the historical numbers could be found in New World. Ms. Taylor said the numbers were there, but they were inconsistent and varied greatly from year to year. Mr. Hitchcock stated that “going forward, it’s all good. Going back, you need a forensic accountant.” Ms. Taylor agreed and added “working on that while maintaining current operations, and then projecting the future, that's very challenging.” Mr. Hitchcock said the Deputy Treasurer Caroline Mansfield may be able to help.
Mr. Antenucci asked what the GPH Board had established as the projected 2027 revenue. Ms. Taylor said it was “based on fee schedules, collections, inspection fees, that sort of thing,” but she noted that part of the historical issue is that “revenues were not classified appropriately.” She explained that this was because multiple people have been responsible for entering the financial data into New World over the last several years, and these individuals each had different ways of classifying the information, resulting in inconsistencies. Ms. Taylor noted that they are now trying to streamline the process and document how classifications are made for future reference in order to have consistency going forward.
To sum up, Ms. Taylor indicated that getting the 2026 revenue in balance was a priority so that New World reflects what was approved by the Budget Commission and they are working through the matter to the best of their ability. It was determined that part of the correction will be decertifying $1.3 million of transfers to the general fund that were no longer needed because many bills are now being paid out of individual funds and not the general fund.
Public Comment:
-
This Observer asked clarifying questions on the items that were not on the agenda. The answers are reflected in that section of this report. This Observer also asked if Munson Township had provided supporting documentation regarding its request to establish two new reserve funds that was tabled at the May 18, 2026 Budget Commission Meeting, and Mr. Antenucci said that nothing has been received yet. Finally, this Observer requested a copy of all materials from this meeting, which were received via email on June 1, 2026.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:59 am.
Next Meeting: The next Budget Commission Meeting will be a Regular Meeting on Monday, June 15, 2026 at 10:00 am in the Auditor's Conference Room, 215 Main Street, Chardon. 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: Gail Roussey
Submitted: June 5, 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.