Brimfield Township is in financial trouble, but exactly how deep the hole is, who’s responsible and what to do about it remain unknown.
Much of the financial red ink continues to swirl around the Brimfield Fire Department, headed by Fire Chief Craig Mullaly. The fire department has faced a host of financial issues in recent years, from some purchases coming under scrutiny from the state auditor to internal funds being tapped to cover multiple overages related to the township’s new fire station.
During a July 27 special meeting, Mullaly told the trustees he anticipated a $400,000 deficit this year.
“In 2024, we knew we were starting to get to the end of our money. In 2025, we knew we were there,” he said.
Cue cost-saving measures.
During an Aug. 3 trustee meeting, Mullaly said he is saving money by assigning himself to regular shifts, juggling shift staffing and positions and curtailing nonessential training and county teams training and participation. Canceling the department’s television and newspaper subscriptions will save another $120.
Trustees did not sign off on selling equipment and vehicles the fire department seldom uses, reasoning that they may not bring in enough to make the loss worthwhile. Nor did they give Mullaly the green light to renew service contracts on the fire department’s Jaws of Life and Stryker (power cot and load system for ambulances) units.
The township let both contracts lapse last year. Mullaly said not having them in place puts staff and patients at risk, but he acknowledged that the service contract for the fire department’s Jaws of Life and related tools ran $1,450 a year, while the Stryker service contract totaled $14,846 annually.
Trustee Kevin Scott, whose scrutiny of township finances has led to savings of more than $60,000, said the fire department’s money woes are rooted in simple mismanagement. Since taking office in January, Scott has identified tens of thousands of property tax dollars erroneously flowing to the Portage County auditor’s office due to never-filed forms, and thousands more in township website hosting, trash hauler, propane supplier and mowing contracts.
Mullaly’s job was to stay within the budget township trustees approved, Scott said. Trustee Nic Coia, though, said it’s not that simple. Acknowledging that department heads should stay within their budgets, he said issues connected with the township's new fire station, how department budgets had historically been handled and a deficit that happened faster than predicted all combined to land the township where it is now.
Improper expenditures
A state audit of Brimfield’s 2024 finances is ongoing as the auditor took issue with certain withdrawals from the Brimfield-Tallmadge Joint Economic Development District (JEDD) and advised the township to repay the money. Though both communities bear financial responsibilities for the JEDD, Brimfield handles its books.
Township Fiscal Officer Jasmine Golden, who was not in charge of Brimfield’s checkbook when the withdrawals were made, repaid the M&I fund $426,298 in late 2025. That sent the township’s general fund and fire fund deep into dangerous financial territory, where it stayed until March, when the township received its first-half property tax disbursement.
The trustees asked the Tallmadge City Council to allow M&I funds to be used to purchase vehicles and equipment, setting a retroactive start date of Jan. 1, 2024. Tallmadge agreed, which, depending on the state auditor’s ultimate ruling, will replenish township funds to an unknown extent.
Further ensuring that Brimfield-Tallmadge JEDD M&I funds can be used for vehicles, township trustees on Aug. 4 set Brimfield’s allocation at a minimum of 10% for capital improvements and 90% vehicle-related needs.
Fire station cost overruns
Brimfield’s new fire station/administration building, located at county Route 18 and state Route 43, is also a source of financial grief.
In November 2020, Brimfield voters approved a 28-year, 1.37-mill bond intended to raise $8.5 million for the complex. The township broke ground the following year on what they billed as an $8.2 million structure, but cost overages pushed the price to about $9.5 million.
“They [the state auditor’s office] have not submitted anything to the board saying there was any missing or stolen money, but we do know money was spent over several years through the fire department to cover costs of the construction fund,” Coia said.
Coia said township officials won’t be able to know which cost overruns, or even how much they are, should be charged to the fire department or general fund until legal disputes with the station contractor and architect are sorted out. How long that will take is anyone’s question, he said.
A tax levy
Hoping to staunch the flow of red ink, trustees approved placing a five-year, 1.95-mill fire levy on the November ballot. The levy is intended to raise $930,323 annually.
Township property owners are also subject to a 4.9-mill replacement fire/EMS levy approved in November 2018 “for a continuing amount of time.” Not a new tax, it consolidated four previously approved levies from 1989-2004. The levy was meant to raise about $1,280,323 annually, but now brings in about $1,423,296 a year.
Brimfield property owners also pay on a 1.7-mill EMS levy that raises funds specifically for those emergency services. Voters approved a 0.85-mill levy in May 2009, then renewed it with a 0.85 increase in May 2014. The levy has been renewed regularly ever since, and now raises about $474,252 a year.
Coia said the proposed new fire levy would get Brimfield the “closest to sustainability,” which he defines as enough carry over to pay the bills for three months. That’s important because a new fiscal year starts every Jan. 1, but the township doesn't get its property tax disbursements from the county until March, he explained.
Without sufficient carryover, the three-month gap could potentially place departments in a temporary negative balance, something trustees try to avoid, Coia said.
Should voters approve the levy in November, the fire department should be in solid financial shape until 2031, he said, adding that no one can foresee catastrophic events.