School districts in Medina County will be able to keep millions of dollars in property tax revenue approved by voters after members of the county budget commission missed a deadline, discovered after a related lawsuit.
The Medina County Budget Commission had sought to cut tax funding for Highland, Brunswick, Buckeye and Cloverleaf. But officials said Monday a legal challenge from Highland schools made them aware of a March 1 deadline to certify schools' tax funding.
The showdown between the commission and Medina County school districts is a new test for an Ohio law passed by legislators late last year. House Bill 309 gives county budget commissions the power to reduce millage of levies approved by voters if those commissions deem the revenue "unnecessary or excessive."
John Hunter, spokesperson for Medina County Auditor Anthony Capretta, said the commission needs greater clarification from the state on how it defines "excessive" or "unnecessary" revenue received by schools. He said the budget commission had been basing its decisions off school's carryover balances, looking at districts that had tens of millions of dollars in cash reserves.
Capretta said difficult decisions are "necessary" in a press release.
"Property taxes are strangling Medina County taxpayers, and we face the potential for a complete repeal unless we follow the legislature's example and provide relief locally," Capretta said. "School districts have discretion, and both taxpayers and elected officials should demand they use it to provide relief."
Cloverleaf Superintendent Daryl Kubilus and other superintendents in the county said they had made promises to voters about not increasing taxes on local residents. In order to do that, they need to keep healthy balances of cash for as long as possible.
"All my energy now is focused on the future," Kubilus said. "What are the expectations going forward? While I'm pleased that this is all null and void, I'm worried about next year. I'm worry about our townships, our villages, our libraries, our parks. We need specific parameters and hopefully we'll have answers to some of these questions before next year.
Liz Vereb, grandparent of a Highland schools student, held a sign protesting the commission鈥檚 attempt to cut Cloverleaf schools鈥� funding, noting the school district had already moved to voluntarily cut taxes for residents.
"It's all the kids that we're here to represent today, not just the Cloverleaf children, all the children," Vereb said.
The commission had already voted to cut Cloverleaf's tax funding by almost $550,000, and had proposed cutting Highland鈥檚 tax funding by $2.8 million, citing local property owners鈥� desire for tax relief. Those attempts are now invalid.
