By Anton Riecher
By unanimous vote, Medina County commissioners adopted the same property tax rate as last year ($0.4434 per $100 valuation Monday), which will generate a 7.25% increase in overall property tax revenue. The estimated bill for a median homestead will be $1,135.
Commissioners also unanimously approved a budget of $85.7 million for fiscal year 2026-27 and a precinct 2 special road tax rate of $0.0364, described as a 4.3 percent increase.
In the wake of rising costs in health insurance, road materials and other necessities, delivering a balanced budget has been difficult, County Judge Keith Lutz said.
“I and the team have been through this budget over and over,” he said. “I have made at least five passes through it personally. We did everything we could. Obviously, we have to make up a lot of ground to get it back to even here.”
The property tax increase will raise total revenue by 7.25 percent ($2,060,781) compared to the previous year. Out of that increase, $1,727,263 represents tax revenue to be raised from new properties added to the tax roll this year.
Nearly 42 percent of the budget will be funded from the new tax rate. The rest will come from other revenue sources and cash balances.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Jessica Castiglioni put forward the motion to approve the tax rate, seconded by Precinct 3 Commissioner Larry Sittre. On the budget, Precinct 3 Commissioner David Lynch made the motion, seconded by Precinct 4 Commissioner Danny Lawler.
During a public hearing preceding the vote, Lutz reviewed the budget in detail, describing it as conservative and tight, focusing on support of employees through a three percent cost of living adjustment, sustainability and maintaining reserves.
“I’m a big believer that we’ve got to take care of the employees we have,” Lutz said. “When we’re all done if we have extra money then we’ll add to our employees but the first thing is to take care of who we have then add to our employees.”
One major issue for employees was health insurance premiums which rose sharply. Lutz said general fund insurance costs increased by about $910,962 overall or roughly 17 percent. Lutz said the county was successful in holding the increase to about 14 percent.
The new budget also corrects chronic underfunding in the health insurance fund so future transfers from the general fund to sustain health insurance premiums should not be needed as often, he said.
General fund cash reserves were projected at about $18.5 million, enough to cover about seven and a half months of operation. Lutz described this as a necessary reserve level, especially given future infrastructure and emergency needs.
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