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GOSHEN TOWNSHIP -- The board of trustees approved the township's 2027 tax budget in its meeting Tuesday.
Fiscal Officer Michele Barratt stressed that the tax budget is distinct from the township's operating budget, which is reviewed and approved by the trustees annually, and are best projections for use by the county. She explained that 2026 marked the first time in more than 20 years that Mahoning County had not waived the requirement for townships to compile and submit a tax budget to the budget commission.
"[The tax budget] is a breakdown of all the different funds that we have, and one of the things that they're looking at is making sure that the carryover balance at the end of the year is not more than 50% of the revenue for that year. If they see that it is, then they may have a hearing, and then they could adjust the levees, so that is what we are looking at," Barratt said.
Barratt said that the township had some funds where the carryover balance was projected to exceed that 50% mark due to covering necessary maintenance costs while seeing declining revenues like the cemetery fund or not receiving new revenue regularly like the grant matching fund, and that she would include explanatory memos about those balances when she submitted the budget. The tax budget also projects a carryover in the township's general fund, which Barratt said that township needs to maintain a carryover balance as that money can be transferred freely to other special purpose funds to address immediate concerns, but once transferred to those funds it can't be transferred back out if needed.
"One of the reasons that we have that carryover is because we need to have carryover to sustain ourselves. We don't get money from the county until March, so we need a carryover to be able to pay bills at the beginning of the year. We are also concerned about the administration building having some issues and we need to have some funds available to transfer in case we need to do work next year," Barratt said.
The trustees will still need to review and approve its annual temporary budget for 2027 at the end of the year with the finalized budget following in the new year.
The board of trustees will meet next at 6 p.m. on Aug. 11.