Finance, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee: General Fund Budget Hearing, Day 1, Morning Session
Cleveland City Council
Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024
9:00 a.m. — 1:00 p.m. EST
601 Lakeside Ave Cleveland, OH 44114 (Directions)
Cleveland City Hall, Mercedes Cotner Room 217 (or watch on YouTube)
It is budget season in Cleveland! We’re going to document it!
We do not expect you to be a budget expert. Honestly, we don’t know many people who are. We want you to lead with your curiosity. Document the process as you see it. Ask questions about what you don’t understand. And of course, follow the money.
NOTE: This assignment is for the morning session of day 1 of General Fund Budget hearings. This assignment is scheduled from 9 a.m. to until council takes a lunch break. Lunch break is expected at noon, but it may come earlier or later.
When council breaks for lunch, please contact the Cleveland Documenters team to let us know at (216) 202-4383 or cledocumenters@gmail.com. That way we can give a heads up to Documenters covering the afternoon session.
Also, be sure to let us know what’s the best way to reach you while on assignment: phone call, text, or email?
Pay: For budget assignments, we treat each session (AM or PM) as a four-hour meeting, even if it runs shorter.
- Minimum pay if watching remotely: $108
- Minimum pay if watching in-person: $144
More pay is added for sessions that run longer than 4 hrs & 15 min.
Documenters covering this should be prepared for the session to last up to four hours. If the session lasts longer than four hours and you cannot continue, let the Documenters team know and note where you leave off in your meetings notes or live-tweet thread.
Live tweeters: Because we are trying to make information from these budget hearings available for residents as quickly as possible, please only accept this assignment if you can live tweet this meeting WHILE the meeting is ongoing.
Notetakers: We know officials cover a lot in these sessions. You’ll have 48 hours to submit budget notes rather than the typical 24 (note: You’ll still receive an automated email to submit assignments within 24 hours).
On the agenda for this meeting: During these hearings, City Council will ask questions of every city department, division, and office regarding their proposed 2024 budgets. When we know which sections are set to be covered in your session, we’ll update this spot and also send you the information, including relevant page numbers in the Mayor’s Estimate.
2024 budget hearing resources:
- The 2024 Mayor’s Estimate. Council members will refer to this document in the meeting. It has all the proposed budget numbers. Note: The original PDF might be easier to navigate. To access it from the Document Cloud link, click or tap the button in the top right corner. Then click or tap “Original Document (PDF).”
- Video: 5 quick tips for navigating the 2024 Mayor’s Estimate document: https://youtu.be/TrHO1kFhfdw
- Cleveland’s budget process: How does it work? (Guide) Note: This is from last year, but the process is the same.
- Review past Documenters’ budget hearing coverage.
Watching remotely?
Find livestreams of this meeting:
On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ClevelandCityCouncil/streams
On TV20: http://www.tv20cleveland.com/watch-now/
Attending in person? Be sure to bring a photo ID. There is paid parking connected to City Hall at the Willard Parking Garage, located at 601 Lakeside Ave.
Finance Committee members:
- Blaine Griffin, chair (Ward 6)
- Kerry McCormack, vice chair (Ward 3)
- Kevin Bishop (Ward 2)
- Kevin Conwell (Ward 9)
- Anthony Hairston (Ward 10)
- Brian Kazy (Ward 16)
- Michael Polensek (Ward 18)
- Jasmin Santana (Ward 14)
- Jenny Spencer (Ward 15)
Other council members:
- Joe Jones (Ward 1)
- Deborah Gray (Ward 4)
- Richard Starr (Ward 5)
- Stephanie Howse-Jones (Ward 7)
- Danny Kelly (Ward 11)
- Rebecca Maurer (Ward 12)
- Kris Harsh (Ward 13)
- Charles Slife (Ward 17)
Note: The relevant page numbers in the Mayor’s Estimate will have the names of some administration officials.
For more information go to Cleveland City Council’s website: https://www.clevelandcitycouncil.org.
Check the source website for additional information
Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Cleveland - OH Documenters Team
Council kicks of budget with questions to mayor
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07:55 AM Feb 20, 2024 CST
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Find it here:
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Griffin sets the grounds for today's meeting--they are only focusing on budgeting appropriations. He jokes that this is one of the only times they get the mayor (Justin Bibb) at the table.
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He says "The city of Cleveland revises its financial plan annually...to ensure that recurring revenues are equal to its recurring expenditures."
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This budget is structurally balanced.
It creates the right level of flexibility in a fiscally responsible way
It prioritizes public safety, and neighborhood revitalization, and makes the right long-term investments.
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Council has some concerns around the overall vacancy pool voices Griffin, noting that it could potentially usurp's Council's capacity having unfilled positions.
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Bibb doubles down on the point of flexibility.
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Griffin now asks "How do we reduce the amount of consultants, contractors, third-party folks and retain more permanent city positions?"
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shortening the bureaucratic hiring processes
modernizing our HR systems
sometimes it's okay to have private partners to help the city manage their assets effectively and efficiently
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Bibb: One of the biggest challenges has been working as quickly as they can to deploy the federal historic investments.
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Abonamah: doubles down on the importance of paper-less efficiency.
Onto Vice Chair McCormack.
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He asks: for the folks who are interested in alternative ways to get around (buses, bikes, etc.) how do we expedite those processes?
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TOD transit management policy has been employed to further incentivize developers to give out bus passes ...
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historic investments based on the bipartisan investment bill
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Bibb: Sustained partnerships with the Ohio highway patrol, US marshalls, the ATF, and the US attorney to ensure we're ready for summer. Having detailed warrant sweeps across the city.
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Santana: Last week, we had a ribbon cutting for our welcome center. What is your plan to increase bilingual or multilingual capacity in the city?
Bibb: We have to better systemize language translation to embed that across city hall.
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Bibb: We are deploying ARPA capital that can be sustained over time. Working with the CMSD CEO to figure it out.
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He is disappointed in this year's budget books, as they differ greatly from the ones in the years before. He is not able to compare this year's to the previous year's books.
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He wants people to be hired, especially in these departments as residents are not feeling it, afraid to even go to church he references.
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Bibb: You're right in terms of culture. How do we make Cleveland one of the best places to work?
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Conwell: you didn't touch on attrition...he continues sharing concerns around funding and staffing and also names wanting to make sure we have money put aside for the kids.
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Bibb: Happy to have our Southeast side strategist brief you on that plan.
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Kazy: "Are these 184 police officers that you're budgeted to hire...is it realistic or are they ghost vacancies?"
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Kazy: Can you give us an update on the stadium deal?
Bibb: We've been in active negotiations for the past 2 years. hoping to keep the lakefront location. more details to come.
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Bibb: it's a fantastic idea, would welcome your collaboration!
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Bibb: how do we ensure more thoughtful, pragmatic commissioners to be part of it? tweaking the legislation to be more conducive to city function.
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Bibb has 3 tangible examples of leveraging ARPA investments.
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2 million dollar grant from key bank for home rehab investments across the city
50 million in funding (20 mil from ARPA, 10 mil from state, 20 mil from philanthropy) for broadband
half a billion investment to lay fiber across the city
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Bibb: We're good on that front. We've done a solid job getting money out there as fast as we can. Federal money is all about compliance.
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Bibb runs down the numbers: the budgetary plan accounts for 1350 police officers. Currently, there are 1169 officers. Moving to 12-hour shifts has led to full staffing in all districts and will allow for greater hiring flexibility.
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Bibb: We need to continue working with council members on the southeast side. Building the CDC capacity.
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Councilman Bishop is next.
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Bishop: " When the feds draw back from the interest rates, our increase in revenues will go back to less than 1%. Are we prepared to lose this healthy interest income?
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He says we are waving the white flag, by cutting positions in the policing department.
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Abonamah: The plan was to take 15 million out of the general fund, around 110/115 employees.
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Slife: A goal of mine in this budgetary system is to identify growth edges for different departments.
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"Are we holding people who are now 25/26 accountable for something they did when they were 15?"
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She also brings up a new point on Urban forestry-- the team needs to get to a predictable and consistent revenue stream.
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To Bibb: "Have you ever looked at the compliance audits to OEO for these projects in the city?"
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As it relates to the Slavic Village--the pilot project in the southeast side focuses on 3 geographies, but the goal is to expand it to every part of the city where there is demand.
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In terms of rec centers, for the first time ever, the city is comprehensively auditing all parks and rec centers. He plans to separate the dept from public works and increase its funding.
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Bibb notes that because of the nature of the funds, there are lots of compliance mechanisms and projects are moving slowly.
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Abonamah: ~200 accounts in 2 banks: Key Bank and PNC
Starr: When are we going to start leveraging our position with these banks to invest in our neighborhoods?
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Starr: One more point. I had residents recently ask me: is $1,200/month affordable housing?
Bibb: Lots of nuances, but that's really expensive for working-class families. We need to work on that.
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Harsh: What is your goal for academy enrollment this year?
Bibb: 108.
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Harsh: We're currently down 233 officers from 2021.
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Abonamah: Residents First is a priority. We have not discussed tapping into pool with any other department besides housing and building.
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I've always been concerned about CMSD funding and the difference between that and charter schools. Bibb agrees on the importance of funding CMSD schools.
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Bibb: not satisfied. Howse-Jones agrees. How do we get those rates up to satisfactory?
She says that 72% of Cleveland's operating fund goes into salaries and benefits. She asks for a few budget clarifications.
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Abonamah: Yes
Howse: What are our hiring numbers
Abonamah: We hired 514 people and had 717 terminations. From the general fund, its 369 hirees and 519 terminations.
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Abonamah: bringing in a digital contracting tool that should ease contracting.
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Bibb: Open to enhancing that flexibility and clarifying those HUD guidelines.
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Agency Information
Cleveland City Council
See meeting notes for details
Cleveland City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Cleveland in Ohio. There are 17 elected Cleveland City Council members representing the 17 wards of the City of Cleveland. Each ward has approximately 25,000 residents. Council Members are elected to serve a four-year term. Council members serve two roles in their duties: to draft and enact legislation for the city of Cleveland and act as ombudsmen for their constituents.
Find meetings streamed at: *online on TV20 at: http://www.tv20cleveland.com/watch-now/
*The meetings are also streamed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ClevelandCityCouncil/
Documents
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