Cuyahoga County Council is reversing a proposed cut to the county’s publicly-funded hospital, MetroHealth System, and portions of cuts to three other social service programs.
County Executive Chris Ronayne’s budget for 2026 and 2027, submitted to council in October, proposed trimming $4.5 million of the county’s $35 million-per-year subsidy to MetroHealth.
The Department of Health and Human Services segment of county government, which funds child and family, education and homeless services countywide, is funded through a property tax levy, and faced a total of more than $40 million in reductions in Ronayne’s proposed budget.
Councilmember Meredith Turner said during a budget hearing Monday that council could not reverse all of the cuts to the county’s social safety net.
“We are not choosing between caring and not caring,” said Turner, following public comments opposing many of the proposed cuts. “We are choosing within the limits of the budget before us. These decisions are not a reflection of the worth of any population, including women, seniors or children.”
Council also approved the return of $500,000 to Canopy Child Advocacy Center’s budget. Canopy offers services to victims of abuse and neglect, and faced a $1 million reduction over two years.
Council also restored funding to a scholarship program facing elimination in 2027 and a program called Closing the Achievement Gap, which works with students “who need extra guidance” in Cleveland, Maple Heights, East Cleveland and other east side suburbs.
The budget is scheduled to receive its final vote at council’s Dec. 9 meeting.
Some county council members also sought to add $2.5 million to the juvenile court’s budget for 15 additional probation officers to work with kids in the system who require drug treatment.
The money would have come from the county’s opioid fund, which Council President Dale Miller pushed back against.
“If you could do that, we could do the same thing and fund the $1.2 million that's been cut from the collaboratives, and we could fund the $150,000 for the clergy alliance,” said Miller, who continued listing several other cuts included in the budget, including to Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s homeless shelter services and the ADAMHS Board, which funds addiction and mental health treatment.
“Nobody’s suggesting doing that, instead they're suggesting funding new things,” he said.
That proposal was one of the recommendations made by a council juvenile justice subcommittee that met for more than a year considering how to address youth crime in the county.
The budget amendment’s co-sponsor, Michael Gallagher, said council should follow their recommendation.
“I've heard from council president in particular every single time we talk about the jail that he wants the numbers down, that we don't need so many beds. Well, guess what? This is where it starts. This is how you do that,” said Gallagher.
Miller responded that he would normally support hiring more probation officers but not when there are so many cuts elsewhere in the budget; a countywide hiring freeze; and dwindling funds in the HHS levy’s reserves.
