Speaker 2 opened a Lorain County Board of Commissioners work session asking the auditor to clarify how much the county can use from reserves to blunt rising expenses and revenue uncertainty. "We're kinda asking you now for how much money do you have and what can we do, to help mitigate our increase in expenses countywide without the revenue coming in," Speaker 2 said.

The auditor (Speaker 3) estimated roughly $13 million in covered cash at year-end after advances, noting the office began the year near $15 million and that advances (cash loaned to capital projects) historically total about $12.7 million according to the county's 2024 annual comprehensive financial report. "I think we've been doing some projections. Probably gone into it maybe about 2,000,000. I think we started the year with 15, gonna be at 13," Speaker 3 said.

Commissioners said they want to avoid using one-time reimbursements as recurring revenue because that reduces future capacity to advance funds for capital projects. Speaker 4 warned that recovering advances for capital—such as sewer work tied to later bond reimbursements—matters for cash flow: "If we use those paybacks to pay 2025 or 2026 expenses, then those monies aren't gonna be there the next time we need to advance them."

The discussion also centered on state-driven risks. Commissioners noted proposals in Columbus that could shift revenue streams and potentially reduce property-tax receipts. "I don't wanna be in November '26 saying, okay... something's gonna have to happen," Speaker 2 said, urging staff to prepare a conservative "plan B" for the county's general-fund services if state changes eliminate or reduce property-tax revenue.

On revenue lines, Speaker 3 said conveyance/convenience fees are performing strongly and the office expects near $8 million this year, up from a prior record of $7.4 million. The auditors also flagged uncertainty in sales-tax timing and state distributions: collections lag and occasional "catch-up" payments from the state have occurred in prior years.

Next steps: commissioners asked staff to provide a list of what covered cash and advances can legally be used for under county administrative code, directed the auditor's team to run additional reports, and said they will consider whether to reclassify any advance paybacks as operating revenue only after confirming sustainable reimbursements. Staff also agreed to return with updated fourth-quarter health-plan chargebacks that could affect '26 budget assumptions.