Clevelanders just raised property taxes for city schools. Would they do it again for the parks and recreation centers?
The Bibb administration floated the idea of a 2028 parks levy this week in its new master plan for the city’s recreation centers and green spaces. A new property tax would give City Hall more money for staff and maintenance at the parks.
Signal Cleveland asked readers what they thought. Of the 23 respondents in our survey, 14 said they wouldn’t support a new tax. Another five voted yes, while four said they weren’t sure.
One levy opponent needed the caps lock to get the point across.
“This is a TAX, TAX, TAX MAYOR,” the person wrote.
Are Cleveland residents ready to declare a new Tea Party, don tri-corner hats and dump Lipton in the city’s splash pads? There could be a political risk for Bibb in asking voters to think about a tax increase — even one a few years in the future — while he’s running for reelection.
Then again, this is a small sample size, and it’s hard to draw any far-reaching conclusions from it. The city’s own master plan paints a rosier picture. It says a survey found that 66% of respondents “are supportive of an increase in taxes or levies to fund parks & recreation facilities.”
Our survey asks about more than just taxes. We also want to know what parks, recreation centers and pools you use — and what amenities mean the most to you and your family. You can take the survey at the bottom of the story here.
Mayor Bibb’s celebratory spring
Bibb has spent his reelection-year springtime generating headlines about his work at City Hall. The topics notably do not include the words “Browns” or “stadium.”
Over the last few weeks, the mayor has hosted a slew of celebratory events for:
- A housing investment fund flush with $38 million from the city and Key Bank
- An executive order (signed in the company of Harlem Children’s Zone founder Geoffrey Canada) creating a new cabinet of city staff focused on the needs of kids
- An $11 million cleanup plan for the National Acme industrial brownfield on the border of Collinwood and Glenville (a get-together that featured newly minted Republican Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel)
- And a plan to build 50 miles of bikeways over three years.
At most of the events, the mayor has spoken alongside at least one City Council member — including, at times, would-be opponent Blaine Griffin. The council president hasn’t pulled the rip cord on a mayoral bid, but he is testing the winds.
The impression left is of a council that wants its due share of the credit, not of a council plotting to send the mayor packing in November.
If Bibb faces any major adversary in the news these days, it is not Griffin but rather the flock of lawyers representing the Haslam Sports Group. After one recent event, the Fox 8 I-Team pulled the mayor aside for a two-camera hallway interview about, you guessed it, the Cleveland Browns.
Auditor takes a look under the Cleveland State hood
State Auditor Keith Faber’s office released a deep dive into Cleveland State University this week. The performance audit – requested by the university – mainly looked at the university’s facilities and cybersecurity practices and offered recommendations for improvements.
But the auditor’s office also unearthed another issue: the university’s need for succession planning. “Multiple” employees in leadership roles left before and during the audit.
“These individuals were directly involved with the management of facilities operations at
the University, and their departure represented a significant loss of institutional knowledge,” the audit said.
The departures also made it difficult for Faber’s team to get important information, the report said.
Cleveland State spent much of last year offering buyouts to faculty and staff to help close a looming budget gap, which at one point was projected to potentially reach as high as $40 million.
— Amy Morona
