Cloverleaf Local Schools is considering filing legal action against the Medina County Auditor for delayed collection of taxes and fines from the Nexus Pipeline that runs through the district's boundaries.
Cloverleaf's board of ed authorized district leaders to take action against the auditor's office at its April 22 meeting. The district said their concern was over the auditor's office delaying collection of $200,000 of interest on delinquent tax payments from 2019, 2020 and 2021 related to the natural gas pipeline.
Cloverleaf Superintendent Daryl Kubilus said he's attempted for months to work with the auditor's office to collect the money.
"This started in June of 2025. I've been attempting to resolve this since that point and obviously have not gotten anywhere on that potential resolution," he said.
John Hunter, spokesperson for the Medina County Auditor's office, said the county is currently discussing its options with the county prosecutor. He said the previous auditor's administration was not collecting interest and penalties on delinquent taxes.
"In 2019 and (20)20, the auditor's office had a policy of not doing the interest and penalty on that. And we're waiting to hear from the prosecutor's office if, in fact, we could still do that or what would have to happen for us to be able to do it and work with the schools on that," Hunter said.
If the prosecutor's office does give the greenlight to assess the interest and penalties, Hunter said the auditor's office will still need to send a bill to Nexus.
The conflict stems from a Nexus challenge of the state's $1.6 billion assessed value of the pipeline in 2019. An Ohio Supreme Court ruling in 2025 finalized the taxable value of the pipeline last year at $985 million. Cloverleaf was paid the delinquent taxes it was owed for 2019 through 2021, but the auditor's office failed to collect the interest Nexus owes on the taxes, the district said in a press release.
This is the second public dispute between Cloverleaf and the county auditor's office in recent months. The Medina County Budget Commission attempted to cut millions of dollars in tax revenues from several local schools, including $546,000 from Cloverleaf. The commission cited a new state law allowing commissions to deem some school tax funding "excessive." The budget commission was unsuccessful in reducing the taxes because it missed a deadline.
"Obviously with the $546,000 cut that our Medina County Budget Commission tried to make until it was discovered that that would be illegal, I think for my Board of Education created a level of distrust with the county," Kubilus said
Hunter said his office is just looking to "comply with the law" and follow proper procedures.
"I don't feel there's any tensions between the auditor's office and Cloverleaf," he said. "We've met regularly with the superintendent. We've met regularly with the treasurer."
The Nexus Pipeline carries natural gas across 13 counties in Ohio, from Columbiana County up to the northwest corner of the state. The owners of the Rover Pipeline, which travels a similar route, settled a similar dispute on its valuation in August 2025 on its 2019 taxes, but not subsequent years, leaving local governments in the lurch, The Canton Repository reported recently.
In general, school districts across the state say they will be squeezed by new property tax relief measures approved by the Ohio Legislature last year, amid underlying issues in the current school funding system.
