Medina County commissioners share frustrations with budget commission's conduct of business, auditor's office expenses

MEDINA — The Medina County commissioners recently expressed their frustrations with how the county's budget commission conducted its business regarding the fiscal year 2027 school tax budgets. Medina County Commissioner Aaron Harrison began Tuesday's discussion, as he talked about the Medina County Budget Commission's meeting on Monday. The Medina County Budget Commission is comprised of Treasurer John Burke, Auditor Anthony Capretta and Medina County Commissioner Colleen Swedyk. Swedyk was appointed to the position on March 24 after Medina County Prosecutor Forrest Thompson recused himself from the board. The budget commission's special meeting was held to discuss a recent letter from Highland Schools' legal counsel regarding the district's tax budget and to address the possible approval of all school district budgets as proposed before today's deadline. By the conclusion of Monday's meeting, the budget commission voted to submit the fiscal year 2027 school tax budgets, as originally submitted, to the state. "(Monday's) decision, to my knowledge, was really the only option that the budget commission had due to the failure to provide districts with an official certification of estimated resources by the March 1 deadline," Harrison said. Shortly after the budget commission's meeting was adjourned on Monday, the Medina County Auditor's Office provided a news release, which stated that the budget commission must continue its conversations on behalf of Medina County's taxpayers. "The auditor pointed out that property tax rollbacks can be voluntary and that waiting for the next budget commission isn't necessary," the release reads. "The Medina County Budget Commission has been a rubber stamp for years, and Auditor Capretta has made it a priority to ensure there is a last line of defence for taxpayers." Harrison said he agrees with Capretta that where school districts can make cuts, they should — but that is where their agreement ends. The news release from the Medina County Auditor's Office states that Capretta asked for the county to prioritize staffing for the budget commission, but was rebuffed. "Where I take more issue is when the auditor, in the same press release, turned his attention to this office, implying that had we approved a dedicated budget commission staff member in connection with his 2026 budget request, all would be well," Harrison said. "I'm just not confident that's the case. The reality is that this request was among others that were made by the auditor this past year that were denied because, in spite of the rhetoric coming from that office, the auditor's budget has exploded since Auditor Capretta took office." According to Harrison, the year-end actual expenditures for the auditor's office in 2022, under former Auditor Mike Kovack, were $1,887,335. In 2025, the year-end actual expenditures for the auditor's office, under Capretta, were $3,409,827, Harrison said. Harrison noted that the Medina County commissioners approved expenditures on Tuesday from the auditor's office that were not included in this year's budget. "Before we start throwing stones from our glass house, I think we all need to rein in our own spending," Harrison said. Medina County Commissioner Steve Hambley also spoke, stating that it was shameful the county budget commission did not allow public comment at either its meeting on Monday, nor the special meeting on March 25. "I'm just outraged by the conduct of the budget commission in that regard," Hambley said, noting that such actions need to be reconsidered and that the budget commission develop standards of practice regarding the meetings' conduct. Swedyk said that it's been a very difficult week and believes the school districts were under a lot of stress regarding the budget commission's decisions. "I do think the budget commission needs to continue to meet," Swedyk said. "I think we need to do a better job setting up guidelines and procedures going forward." Contact reporter Sara Crawford at (330) 721-4063 or scrawford@medina-gazette.com.