Medina passes village budget with 1.1% tax increase

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 April 2022 at 8:22 am

MEDINA – The Village Board on Monday night approved a budget that raises taxes by 1.1 percent.

That increase is in the tax levy, what the village collects in taxes. That will increase by $37,021 – from $3,259,119 to $3,296,140.

The tax rate will rise by 0.95 percent or 18 cents, from $18.77 to $18.95 per $1,000 of assessed property.

The $6,329,215 budget for the general fund increases spending by 3.6 percent. The budget includes $95,789 in money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

Village officials said the budget, with a tax rate increase under 1 percent, is a victory.

“Thank you very much to all of the department heads for being on track with all of your budgets (this year),” Mayor Mike Sidari. “It was tight and I’m sure next year will be tight again.”

Village Trustee Owen Toale said he has now worked on the past 12 budgets. The tax rate increase at just under 1 percent is the smallest increase he can recall. Usually the increase is just under 2 percent.

He thanked the village department heads for working with the board to try to minimize an increase during a time of rising inflation and fuel costs. He commended Village Clerk-Treasurer Jada Burgess, Police Chief Chad Kenward, Medina DPW Superintendent Jason Watts, Code Enforcement Officer Dan Gardner and Fire Chief Matt Jackson.

“The public isn’t here and they don’t realize the amount of work that went into this,” Toale said. “Kudos to everybody involved. That is all the employees, all the department heads and the board members. It’s a great, great job.”

The budget includes 2 percent raises for village employees, except for the board members who remain at the same pay.

The board also approved the water fund budget, which increased from $1,681,291 to $1,905,440, and the sewer fund budget, which is up from $1,138,826 to $1,329,876.

The budget doesn’t include the new property assessments. Those haven’t been finalized. The village budget for 2022-23 shows meager growth in taxable valuation from $173.61 million to $173.93 million.