Cleveland Documenters watched Cleveland City Council’s hearings for the 2025 General Fund budget so you didn’t have to. But if you did, you would have enjoyed some unexpected sound effects.
The General Fund covers most city services, so the hearings consume several long days. Here are some highlights from the various departments’ presentations and links to the Documenters’ extensive notes. We’ll have more soon.
To learn more about the budget process, read this.
Beefing up cybersecurity
Less than 10 minutes into the first hearing, Council President Blaine Griffin brought up last summer’s ransomware attack on City Hall, and asked Mayor Justin Bibb if his administration is budgeting appropriately for cybersecurity. Bibb assured him that it is.
Chief Innovation & Technology Officer Stephanie Wernet and Kimberly Roy-Wilson, commissioner of the Division of Information Technology Services, have ensured that the city has “the staffing but also the technology we need to mitigate any future cyberattack,” Bibb said. “As you know these threats change every day so we need to be nimble. … But this budget gives us the tools we need to continue to mitigate any potential threats we may see in the future.”
The 2025 budget allocates almost $26.7 million for the Department of Innovation and Technology. That’s about a 33% increase over 2024 and nearly double what was spent in 2023. The department handles much more than cybersecurity, but the budget calls for doubling the number of IT security officers, from two to four.
Documenters Christina Easter and Bilal Hakeem have more from the first day of hearings.
Parking ticket revenue down
You might at least be tempted to cheer for this drop in revenue: The city collected about half a million dollars less from parking tickets last year. John Galic, parking violations director for the Cleveland Municipal Court, explained why.
The number of parking tickets issued fell 10% last year and disputes rose almost 20%, Galic said. Those are two of the reasons the court brought in about $2.8 million that way in 2024, down from $3.3 million in 2023. The spike in disputes “was due in large part to the city’s new meter zone initiative,” Galic explained. “There was some confusion from citizens regarding these new zones.”
The court worked with the Division of Parking Facilities to post more signs, and Galic said that has alleviated the problem.
Another reason for the dip in revenue was that the city didn’t have the help of the Ohio Attorney General’s office for collecting overdue fines. The AG’s office ended the partnership in April 2023, after Cleveland.com reported that the city went after long-unpaid fines of less than $100. That violated the terms of the agreement.
Galic told City Council that the court is working to renew its relationship with the AG’s office this year.
Documenter Angela Rush has more on Municipal Court’s presentation, plus those of the Office of Capital Projects, the Department of Public Utilities, Utilities Fiscal Control and the Office of Radio Communications.
New state law affecting Cleveland courts
Speaking of revenue from fines: A new law reforming the state’s practices for suspending driver’s licenses came up twice during the hearings in the context of estimating revenue expected this year.
Passed by the Ohio legislature and signed by Gov. Mike DeWine late last year, House Bill 29 eliminates license suspensions for failure to pay civil or criminal fees and fines. The law goes into effect in April.
Judge Michelle D. Earley, presiding judge at Cleveland Municipal Court, told council that the court plans flyers and clinics to tell people about the new law and “is brainstorming ideas for a resource center.”
But the law also prevents municipal courts from asking the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to block license or registration renewals for people with unpaid fines.
“That’s really the teeth of our collections,” said Kim Bates, chief of staff of the court’s clerk division. “It motivated people, especially around their birthdays [when registrations and licenses typically expire], to come in and pay us first.”
In separate testimony, Judge W. Moná Scott of Housing Court said she uses registration blocks instead of warrants when someone fails to appear. “I don’t think housing violations come to that level, to where we should be issuing warrants,” Scott said. House Bill 29 did not come up in that discussion.
Documenter Marvetta Rutherford has more on the presentation from Cleveland Housing Court, plus the Office of Equal Opportunity, Department of Port Control and Department of Economic Development.
New options to pay for sidewalk repairs
The city’s 50/50 Sidewalk Program may get a new name to reflect a recent change to how it operates, according to James DeRosa, director of the Office of Capital Projects.
As the name suggests, the 50/50 program splits the cost of sidewalk, apron and curb repairs with property owners. But legislation recently passed by council allows the city to accept payment for a resident’s share from third parties, like other neighbors, churches and nonprofits.
Council Member Kevin Conwell said he’s heard of cases of sidewalk repairs completed through the 50/50 program only to be ripped up later by the gas company for its own underground work.
“We don’t want to waste money,” Conwell said.
DeRosa said he’s heard the same complaint from other council members and his office is working to fix the issue.
Council Member Stephanie Howse-Jones suggested a system that she said is used in other cities: assessing the resident’s share on their property taxes over five years (unless they opt out).
“Many people aren’t in that position to cover [their half] up front, but there are ways legally we can do it over a five-year process,” Howse-Jones said.
Documenter Angela Rush has more from the Office of Capital Projects.
