Geauga Auditor Discusses Auburn Tax Refunds, Cybersecurity
Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder visited Auburn Township Trustees June 16 to update officials and residents on the return of more than $700,000 of miscollected tax levy funds to township taxpayers.
Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder visited Auburn Township Trustees June 16 to update officials and residents on the return of more than $700,000 of miscollected tax levy funds to township taxpayers.
He also talked about growing cybersecurity threats to local governments.
Regarding the levy funds, Walder explained voters had passed a previous township levy with “fatal errors” in its language.
Almost a year ago, trustees, at the recommendation of the auditor, agreed to refund residents more than $700,000 this year from a roads levy that was erroneously collecting money for over three years.
In 2017, a previous fiscal officer failed to file the correct paperwork to place the levy on the ballot, so voters did not approve the road levy, trustees said in a meeting in 2024.
However, the county and state continued to send funds for the 1-mill roads levy to the township.
The Geauga County Board of Elections identified the mistake after the fact and recommended the collected funds be returned to affected taxpayers, he said, adding the process required detailed legal and financial work.
“We were made aware of this about a year ago now and we had a lot of due diligence to perform, as you can imagine,” Walder said.
Working closely with the trustees, particularly Fiscal Officer Dan Matsko, the auditor arranged for the refunds to go out in the first half of this year. Trustees put aside township funds necessary for repayment.
A law firm specializing in this type of distribution was contracted to manage the process. The same firm previously assisted Walder’s office with a similar situation involving Geauga Public Health, Walder said.
Kate Jacob from the auditor’s office attended Monday’s meeting and said she has been focused on the client’s perspective throughout the refund process.
She presented a summary of the current distribution status, noting that approximately 14% of the payments remain in progress, while 5% have been marked as undeliverable.
“There will be a second delivery attempt prior to those being sent to unclaimed funds,” Jacob said, adding the issued warrants will become void on July 23.
When Matsko asked for clarification on the term “undeliverable,” Walder explained that most of those cases involve recipients who have moved out of the area or passed away.
“What ultimately will happen to the unclaimed funds?” asked Trustee Patrick J. Cavanagh.
“The state manages the unclaimed funds,” Walder said. “It is out of our control. Our responsibility is that, after a certain window of time, we are, by law, required to return any money that isn’t collected by somebody to be sent to the unclaimed funds account.”
Trustees commended the auditor’s office for its transparency and effort in the return process.
“This was a huge effort to get this money back,” Cavanagh said.
Walder also warned trustees about increasing cybersecurity threats to local governments.
While no successful breaches have occurred in Geauga County, he said several attacks have been attempted.
“Since you are under (the Geauga County Automatic Data Processing board’s protection), I wanted to assure you that we have watched them and we have security umbrellas in place,” he said, emphasizing the importance of this kind of protection.
He advised residents to avoid using public Wi-Fi while traveling and to be cautious with QR codes to avoid data theft with these issues on the rise.
Walder said these tools can be safe, but it is crucial to ensure they are from trusted sources and are entirely safe.
While some townships in Geauga County are not part of the county’s ADP system, Walder said collaborative efforts are ongoing to identify and blacklist malicious entities throughout Geauga.
He reported no funds have been stolen locally, but with scams getting more and more deceiving, it is important to remain vigilant.
The trustees thanked both Walder and Jacob for their hard work.
“Your group is phenomenal,” Matsko said.
Walder said he is happy to return for future updates with both financial returns and cybersecurity.
“Our job is to protect Geauga,” he said. “We intend to continue to do that.”
