Cleveland City Council and Mayor Justin Bibb came to an agreement this week on a 2024 city budget that includes fewer total police positions but more money for parks and recreation center maintenance. 

City Council President Blaine Griffin kept his promise that council members would work out any changes to Bibb’s proposed budget – a process called reconciliation –  by March 4.

During almost 30 hours of hearings last month, council members raised concerns about police staffing and whether the city had enough building and housing staff to support the Residents First initiative, which is aimed at holding out-of-town landlords and investors accountable for their rental properties. Bibb’s administration added 20 code enforcement positions back into the budget before the hearing concluded. The police staffing numbers remained unchanged.

Changes approved Monday included:

  • $250,000 in additional funding for the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland to help support residents facing eviction
  • Almost $2.5 million for parks and property maintenance, including repairing tree-damaged sidewalks
  • $75,000 in additional funding for contracted maintenance at recreation centers

Other notable changes included adding two full-time positions to the city’s law department to help with enforcing the Residents First legislation and six additional staff members to help local businesses with economic development needs.

City Council also revisited the mayor’s proposed “vacancy pool,” which would shift empty jobs from departments into a flexible budget bucket to draw from. The pool process will remain in place – in theory – but the compromise was that council will still get to approve positions that are moved from the pool to city departments. 

To address the difficulty in hiring new police officers, the city agreed to cut 148 vacant police positions. 

Wards – and therefore their council members – received $125,000 each as part of the Neighborhood Equity Fund. During Monday’s finance meeting, Griffin reminded council members that an additional $75,000 will be allocated to each ward for neighborhood repairs.

What’s next for Cleveland’s 2024 budget?

The budget, with the changes, was read at Monday night’s council reading. It now cannot be changed. Council will read the budget for a third and final time on March 18 before it is passed.

Budget timeline

Third reading: March 18 at 7 p.m.
Cleveland City Hall, Council Chambers

The meeting is open to the public. Residents can attend in-person (parking is free after 5 p.m. at City Hall) or watch online on YouTube.

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Service Journalism Reporter (she/her)
I am dedicated to untangling bureaucracy so Clevelanders can have the information (and the power) they want. I spent 10 years on the frontlines of direct service working with youth and system-impacted communities before receiving my degree in media advocacy at Northeastern University.