Lorain County adopts FY2027 tax budget despite projected $17.5 million gap

The Lorain County Board of Commissioners on July 17 adopted the FY2027 tax budget after a day of routine business and committee approvals.

Commissioner David J. Moore said the county’s “cliff note” view shows projected receipts of roughly $84 million while departments requested about $109,799,809, a difference he described as approximately $17.5 million. “If the $17 million is true, there will be some severe cuts and it will not be pretty,” Commissioner Marty Gallagher said during the meeting. Moore said the county will start public education in August rather than waiting until November.

The budget document presented to the board breaks out receipts by category — property taxes, permissive (sales) taxes, casino revenue, local government funds, fees and interest — and lists department personnel and other expenditures line‑by‑line. The clerk read detailed tables showing estimated receipts of $84,840,222 and requested expenditures totaling $109,799,809; the board adopted Resolution No. 26‑409 to approve the tax budget “as submitted in the tax booklet.”

Moore said he did not believe every item in the request would remain unchanged and urged departments and elected officials to work together to reduce spending. He said the county will seek a CCAO report to distinguish mandated from non‑mandated services as part of the outreach and planning process.

The board’s action was procedural and did not itself impose new levies; it sets internal estimates and spending requests that the commissioners and departments will use in fall budget deliberations and the December appropriation process.