Some Cleveland City Council members bristled at parts of Mayor Justin Bibb’s budget proposal, including a new pool for vacant positions, as they began negotiations Tuesday.
As part of the 2024 budget cycle, Bibb's third since taking office in 2022, he and Chief Financial Officer Ahmed Abonamah introduced a new budgeting strategy that pools 125 vacant positions across the city into a miscellaneous fund rather than assign them to specific departments.
In years past, each department would estimate its annual budget based on the number of employees it needs. But under Bibb's proposal, if those positions are unfilled, they would be moved into a separate part of the budget that will allow the city flexibility to give departments employees as needed.
Several council members have raised the alarm since Bibb's estimate was released in early February, calling the process "not transparent" and suggesting it undermines Council's authority to have final say over the budget as laid out in the city's charter.
"I don’t understand the pooling concept and how it’s going to improve the operations of the city services," Councilmember Mike Polensek said in Tuesday's hearing.
Bibb maintained that the new process gives the city more flexibility to move positions across departments based on where needs lie rather than to keep vacant positions in a department that may not fill them. For example, he pointed to the recently-passed Residents First legislation, a sweeping housing code overhaul that will require more employees in the Department of Building and Housing.
"This process is about being intentional, about being data-driven and about giving the city the flexibility we need to deploy capital where it’s needed based on conditions we’re seeing on the ground to provide high-quality city services," Bibb told members of council.
The vacancy pool does not include unfilled public safety positions, which are still budgeted for that department. But for the second year, Bibb's proposal cuts many of those vacant positions, reducing last year's budgeted number of uniformed officers from 1,498 to 1,350 in order to pay for newly negotiated salaries and benefits intended to grow the department.
It's a decision that has proved unpopular among the public and some members of council, who doubled down on Tuesday.
"There are two departments you don’t touch: Public Safety and Building and Housing," said Council Member Anthony Hairston.
As the city continues to lose officers without being able to keep up with replacements, Bibb said he is "throwing the entire kitchen sink" at police hiring.
“I’m not going to spare any expense to keep Cleveland's streets safe, but I can’t do it without you," he said.
Budget hearings will continue through next week before approval and adoption.
