By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
We have been following the Lake County Budget Commission for a number of years now. Here is an “oldie but goodie” from 2022.
Lake County’s version of the Budget Commission was merely a rubber stamp because Prosecutor Coulson was very restrictive in his interpretation of the state law on the role of the Budget Commission.
Thanks in part to Lake County Auditor Chris Galloway, the state legislators passed a law known as House Bill 309 trying to increase the authority of the Budget Commission and set standards of how the commission was to perform in each county.
Ohio House Bill 309 (HB 309) modifies property taxation and county budget commission laws to help lower and control local property taxes. Signed by the Governor on December 19, 2025, the law officially took effect on March 20, 2026.
Key Details of HB 309
- County Budget Commission Power: Expands the authority of county budget commissions (made up of the county auditor, treasurer, and prosecutor) to review local tax collections.
- Trim Excess Revenue: Empowers these commissions to reduce or modify property tax levies if they collect money beyond the reasonable operational and financial needs of the local taxing authority.
- Library and Local Funds: Modifies alternative apportionment formulas concerning public library funds and local government funding allocations.
- Financial Transparency: Requires local governments and school districts to share detailed financial data with budget commissions so excess fund balances and carryovers can be properly identified and trimmed.
We thought that maybe, a “definite maybe” as opposed to a “maybe maybe”, this is the catalyst that controls the growth of government in Lake County and throughout the State. But alas, after attending the Budget Commission meeting on August 28, 2026, I realized that it was wishful thinking on my part. We will have to accept that freedom and liberty in Lake County and the State of Ohio are seriously in danger because we are run by socialists that, although they may know the correct role of government is to protect the people, cannot in any way control the growth of government. There is NEVER enough money to satisfy the insatiable thirst of a socialist.
As Margaret Thatcher famously said: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
Here is the uncut version of the entire meeting held on August 28, 2026. Please do not watch this video while driving…
Here is an edited version of the meeting dealing with Lake County property taxes collected. Auditor Galloway tries to reduce the property taxes collected for the Narcotics Agency and Deepwood. However, we was overruled by the two socialists on the commission.
We object to Prosecutor Coulson voting on any Deepwood issue since he is their legal representation. Treasurer Zuren has been reading Romans 13 far too much, and he is acting too like Caesar. To Auditor Galloway we say: Good luck trying to reign in an out of control government.
By the way, the people no longer want to be just renters from the government. We are still collecting signatures and plan to have our amendment on the ballot in November 2027 to abolish property taxes in Ohio. Citizens have realized that the only way to control and our ever-expanding government is to “starve the beast”.
By the way, did we tell you that we are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.
Morley Library motto: Books? We don’t need no stinking books!
Categories: Community Activism, Lake, Lake County Politics, Ohio Counties, Uncategorized