Cuyahoga County has passed a budget for the next two years that includes close to $2 billion in spending each year and significant cuts to social services programs and was acknowledged by multiple council members as the hardest budget since the new county government was formed in 2011.
County Councilmember and Finance Committee Chair Meredith Turner said after Tuesday night’s vote that it took months of work to produce a balanced spending plan.
“This budget cycle demanded more of us than any in recent memory,” said Turner. “The needs were significant, the constraints were real and the decisions before us often were very difficult.”
The budget includes about $40 million in cuts, including $8.5 million over two years from the ADAMHS Board, an agency that oversees mental health and addiction spending, and about $16 million over two years from the county’s Division of Children and Family Services.
“As I have stated numerous times to residents and outside agencies, this is the worst budget council has ever seen since inception of the new form of government,” said Councilmember Yvonne Conwell.
County Executive Chris Ronayne cited rising healthcare costs and reductions in funding from the federal government when he introduced his proposed budget in October.
“We chose not to take the route of cuts in a method that would be across-the-board,” said Ronayne. “We went granularly through, line-item by line-item, to understand every contract that this county has with its public.”
Council kept all those cuts in place with a few exceptions, most notably returning $4.5 million to the subsidy for MetroHealth, the county’s publicly funded hospital system.
“We recognize that MetroHealth is facing significant financial headwinds and unusually large uncertainties, therefore we decided to do our part to strengthen Metro’s capacity to withstand these challenges,” said Council President Dale Miller.
Not included in the budget are the costs the county is facing to build a new jail – currently close to $1 billion - and courthouse – price tag not yet known. The county will also have to pay for the ongoing upkeep of the publicly owned basketball and baseball stadiums in Downtown Cleveland.
And one department – the county sheriff – has already made clear it expects to blow through its budget, particularly on overtime spending.
“We are not in a funding crisis, we are in a spending crisis,” said Councilmember Michael Gallagher, who called on the county to cut back much more on its subsidies for nonprofit service providers. “We need to pump the brakes, evaluate need, evaluate successes and fund appropriately.”
